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Baldur's Gate 2 Gold 84

Posted by Hemos from the mmmm-more-lost-days dept.
waromano writes: "I just read over on VoodooExtreme that Baldur's Gate 2 has gone gold, shipping in stores on 9/26/00. " Bioware ... muy bueno. Hopefully I can import my old characters.
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Baldur's Gate 2 Gold

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  • Bioware has been doing a great thing for AD&D: reviving it
    Until Baldur's Gate was released RPGing was in somewhat of a lull. Now with the release of the first 2 core books of D&D 3 edition, and a series of execellent games released by Bioware & Black Isle, we geeks can finally put our DMing hats back on.

    "You are surrounded by 7 Ogres. Roll for initiative...."
  • I meant of course Planescape: Torment 2, but there is a limit on the subject length.

    I haven't played BG1 since it was supposed to be mostly a clickfest, that's why I loved PS:T, even if there were some combat areas, mostly one could go on with intelligence and wisdom, if one so chose, instead of being forced to hack'n'slash one's way through.

    Anybody knows if BG2 is going to have some more plot than BG1 or is it going to be another kill-everything-in-sight type of thing ?

    Also, anybody know if there *is* going to be a PS:T 2 or if they are going to do something else ? I seem to recall having read they don't want to do it, but I would love it if they did, maybe setting it after TNO comes back from the blood war, maybe stripped of all his powers etc. and in need to complete some further mission

    Oh well, I can always dream...
  • Im gonna reply to my post instead of replying to the responses you guys gave me.

    Just wanted to say thanks! I think I'll buy Baldur's Gate (if I can find bundled with the expansion or something, I'll buy that too), and if it's as good as you say, then I'll buy BG II.

    I'll also check out Deus Ex, but after playing Quake II and Starcraft for a while I'm in the mood for something in the Fantasy genre. If Deus Ex looks good I'll add it to my "games to buy" list.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • > The ending of the first one didn't leave much room for a second story. It would have to involve a different main character.

    Dakkon springs immediately to mind. Maybe Morte (always wondered how he managed to carry stuff for me ...) ;)
  • This is gonna be cool. I've got to get a pair of scimitars and go after Balors now.
  • You start at level 9... Well, shift your perspective!! If you START at level 9, you call it 1. It is the first level. So when you reach 18th, you call it 9th level. From all of your perspective, it IS the 9th level, just with another name!

    God, you gotta love us engineers/nerds.. The world does too revolve around us!!! WE PICK THE COORDINATE SYSTEM!
  • Roll the dice to see if i'm getting drunk!
  • You got the science of karma whoring down pat. I'm sure you'll be able to keep your karma between 25 and 50... So it doesn't really matter...

    Or are you refering to the killing FascDot is soon to make on eBay?

  • Here's the associated video [ifilm.com]. The video was created by a couple game designers, so it's bonus geeky.

    And, Earthling is right, you have to listen, or see, this.
  • Try Planescape: Torment. The goals in the game are far more complex than just killing everybody and becoming a superhero.

    And with regards to Torment 2, I think perhaps it would be more fun if instead of using the same characters in the first game, the sequel should feature an entirely new character, that in the course of the game may meet up with the Nameless One's companions and have them join him/her. The story in Torment 1 is already complete; extending it any further is likely to spoil the story.
  • Everyone who spent hundreds of hours playing BG and building up their character to have the game crash on them at exactly the same spot every time (even after reinstalls/ loading from an earlier save game)
    It also played like a utter dog on my 300Mhz laptop which I could never figure out - its only 2D!!
    Having said that I will look forward to getting BG2 - just try to stop me!
  • Try stuffing 4-6 computers into a small room and do multiplayer gaming instead. Then you will get the "Paused" message on screen at about the same time the guy/gal behind you requests chips/coke/pizza/toilet-break. :-)

    It actually gets closer to the Real Thing(tm) than any other computer RPG I've tried. (I live on the 6bone, so I can't try the online games.)

  • Planescape: Torment:
    2. I don't believe the game sold very well. A shame, because it's a true classic

    A pity. I just picked PS:T up about a month ago and I have to say I think it is much better than BG (of course, if you're looking for a hack-fest, go get BG or Diablo 2 instead)

    Which leads me on to ask, why is it that so many good games seem to sell poorly? Terra Nova by the now defunct Looking Glass Studios is one such game that comes to mind, MDK is another (I think, please correct me if i'm wrong). Maybe PS:T was a bit too wierd in terms of setting and characters that it put people off. Does that mean that gamers are reluctant to try out games that are different from the norms?

  • Just started to play Icewind Dale a few days ago,
    and so far (ok, ok, I already started playing Chapter 5) it rocks...

    The engine's look & feel basically is the same as in BG/ToSC, but the graphics made my jaw drop even more - and the sound left me nearly speachless...

    Now I'm waiting for BG2 and Pools of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor...
  • Definitely get the Original [interplay.com] and TOSC [interplay.com], both are great games. If you get these two, then you can bring the characters you create into the new game. [interplay.com] Also if you're looking for another cool game, check out Deus Ex. [deusex.com] Great Game!
  • I'd recommend ICEWIND DALE. It's made by the same people, but has more dungeon crawls that Baldur's gate. They did a nice job with the quests too. They did better compression, getting it down to two CDs also.
  • What i don't like is the fact that you DO start at level 9 (or whatever it is). I would like to start right at the bottom and work my way up. Also, there is no DVD :(
  • Certain characters will be coming back in BG2 (I got a neat sneak preview of BG2 back at E3.. hooray for media passes!) .. and their statistics should be importable as well.. (it's been a few months, don't take it as gospel), but the best part of the news: Minsc is coming back. "Squeaky wheel gets the kick!"
  • Guess you'll have to wait for Bioware's next game, Neverwinter Nights, which will be available on Linux for your purchasing pleasure. ;)
  • Or you'd uncover the real real truth. That since the inception of Windows 2K, Fervent has booted to Win almost exclusively on his Win/Linux box.
  • It is seriously cool that Baldur's Gate 2 has gone gold - I loved the original. Now, I can remember having read something about Bioware being interested in porting the game to Linux. I'm not a "Linux must rule all things" zealot, but I think it would be really cool if I didn't have to keep Windows around for games all the time. Does anyone know if a Linux port of Baldur's Gate 2 is being worked on, or will it be given over to Loki to be worked on, or anything?

  • After the bioware chat in irc.gamesnet.net yesterday (wednesday) the following question was asked: [04:43] Does Bioware have any plans to make games that will run on LINUX? And the two answers: [04:43] netcat - what, like Neverwinter? =] [04:44] netcat - Neverwinter is being planned to work in linux, yes
  • I never finished Baldur's Gate. I just got fed up with micromanaging the other PCs all the time. It would have been nice if they had acted in a more intelligent way so I could just get on with playing the game.

    My top gripes
    1) Pathfinding. The party is exploring a dungeon or wilderness area. One of the characters takes a wrong turn and just wanders off. I have to stop the other characters, go and find the lost sheep and bring him/her back step by step.
    2) Suicidal magic users. The party gets into a fight. Everyone has range weapons except the magic user, who has run out of darts. So when I order the party to attack the enemy he charges off on his own to attack them with his dagger and gets slaughtered.
    3) Weapon choice. In a fight I have to choose the right weapon for each character. Why can't they work this out for themselves? It really slows down the fights.
  • It really is that simple -- Planescape didn't sell very well. It got great reviews, but wasn't nearly as financially succesful as baldur's gate.

    I loved PS:T - the only game where adding points to wisdom and charisma is actually useful. One of the very few games I'd compare to actually reading a book, and not just because it had a whole lot of text, but because of its intelectual and emotional heft.

    If anyone has any urge whatsoever to play an involved rpg, definately pick this one up. I've seen it going for as little as 20 bucks already!
  • Heh. Have a look at the "Summoner Geeks [summoner.com]" movie, a modern interpretation of the sketch.

  • Did anyone else not like the original because of the empty space and the talking?



    It seems the empty space, the path-finding and the Fed-Ex quests (go to Beregost and bring me back my bottle of wine) are the two biggest complaints about the original, judging from alt.games.baldurs-gate [alt.games.baldurs-gate] and the Gameplay FAQ [interplay.com].


    Needless to say, they've promised to fix them all - pathfinding will include bumping others out of the way instead of walking half-way around the world (like Icewind Dale apparently, but I've never played it), walking speed will be up 50%, empty spaces won't be there and quests will be more interesting.


    I liked some of the voices - Minsc in particular had good lines ('RASKKKKKKKKKKKKK'). At the moment though, I have Safana in my evil party and her American accent is annoying me. That and being greeting by 'Yes darling' when I click on her as a female PC (her personality description makes it seem she'd aim that stuff at males).

  • duh, screwed up the post...sorry bout that

    [04:43] netcat: Does Bioware have any plans to make games that will run on LINUX?
    [04:43]DerekF[BioWare] netcat - what, like Neverwinter? =]
    [04:44] NathanF_BioWare: netcat - Neverwinter is being planned to work in linux, yes

  • I would like to start right at the bottom and work my way up.



    Play a human character and dual-class as soon as the game begins - you'll be level 1 with a lot of hit points.


    This might make the beginning almost impossible of course...

  • Baldur's Gate is OK, but there is nothign really special or remarkable about it. It wouldn't be a bad buy, but I think you'd be better off with Planescape:Torment.

    Truly a great game -- I enjoyed it about 10 times more than Baldur's Gate, which got very hack-and-slash tiresome after awhile. You know the kind - it becomes WORK to finish the game, but you've already put in so many hours you just keep going.

    Torment, on the other hand, I wished would go on forever. Like a great book, it was almost painful to finish it completely.
  • Minsc is coming back

    YAY!

    You probably get an idea of why he's my favorite charicter from me spelling it wrong in my .sig.....
    --

  • Thanks for the spoiler (am still playing Planescape: Torment ;)) but if you want to know what the team behind PS:T are up to, visit http://www.dirty.org/BIS [dirty.org].
    They don't say much of anything there, though, but I expect it'll be a pleasant surprise if and when they do.
  • Next I'll be hearing hamsters talk...

    //rdj
  • I totally AOL that.

    I have been playing the bejeesus out of IWD for the last week or so and it is really addictive. The gameplay is more of a dungeon hack than BG and you get to choose your entire party, rather than just one character plus NPCs.
    The control system takes a bit of getting used to, and resembles realtime strategy games a bit, but is easy with a little practice.

    The cool thing about IWD for me is the fact that now, after years of munchkinish AD&D playing in my youth, I can see what the game would be like if you actually stick to the rules and dont fudge the dice rolls. :-)

  • You will need the latest copy of RealPlayer to play the DnD video link above. Heres the link to save you time.

    http://scopes.real.co m/real/player/unix/unix.html?src=rpbform [real.com]
  • ... Mage with 2 Rings of Wizardry - can we say 16 Magic Missiles? =)

  • You can Import, better for ToSC (Score:3)

    by MattW ( 97290 ) <matt@ender.com> on Thursday September 14, 2000 @01:29PM (#778837) Homepage
    You can indeed import characters from BG. If you played just the standard game, you have the 89,000 xp cap, and if you played through the expansion pack (which was better than the rest of the game, imho), you can import Tales of the Sword Coast pack characters, which had an xp cap of 161k.

    If you haven't played BG1/ToSC, never fear. You can create a new character(s), which will start with 89k xp and jump right in.

    I've read some impressive reviews which had good things to say about the story line, etc. What's funny, is, I was going to submit this as a story, too, but I didn't think it was "stuff that mattered". heh.

  • Hmmm... Somehow it just isn' t the same... (Score:3)

    by TWX_the_Linux_Zealot ( 227666 ) on Thursday September 14, 2000 @01:29PM (#778838) Journal
    ... roleplaying without constantly being interrupted with questions like "Where's the Cheetos?" and the like... Oh well...

  • Don't you mean you'll STEAL it for linux? You horrible horrible open source zealot.
  • This may be a bit off-topic, but what the heck...

    Im planning on visiting the US in a few days, and apparently I wont be able to find Baldur's Gate II then. Is there any game of the genre that you'd recommend instead? Actually, I haven't bought Baldur's Gate 1 yet. Should I get it? Should I just wait for BGII? Should I buy something else instead?

  • Games go gold all the time, why is this one given special treatment. (Headline in Slashdot)
  • Looks like someone wants to mess up the Karma Whore Fantasy League...
    The moderators got pissy this morning and took me down. I was doing some definite whoring too.
    I figure since I can't get decent stats this week, I oughtta pull a Jerry Krause and get far enough under the karma cap to pick up some decent free agents.
    --Shoeboy
  • Remember those old hack & slash games you used to have on Friday nights?
    Remember the scare caused by role-playing games in general, and DnD in particular?

    Then you have to listen to this: http://www.nfds.net/~byron/mp3/DnD.mp3 [nfds.net]

    Warning: Please do not eat or drink while listening to this. Don't say I didn't warn you! =)

    -Earthling

  • Portrait customization was really cool, but the voices really irritated me. Especially when people would say inane things at random times, or when you're approaching some high drama or suspense point and somebody says something along the lines of 'boink!' (just an example..)

  • Re:Well, there goes... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Too bad VMWare 2 still doesn't have usable directX support, so you can't play (for example) Diablo II.
  • oh, FUCK YOU.

  • Who made what and why... (Score:3)

    by Lord_Pall ( 136066 ) on Thursday September 14, 2000 @02:30PM (#778847)
    Okay you're wrong on so many levels..

    Bioware didn't make Icewind Dale. Bioware wrote Baldur's Gate.
    And just finished Baldur's Gate 2.
    They both used a variant of an engine Bioware created called the Infinity Engine.
    This is the engine that they then gave to Interplay's RPG division, Black Isle Studios.

    Black Isle then proceeded to make Planescape Torment, and Icewind Dale.
    These were Interplay's in-house productions and had nothing to do with Bioware other than the base engine.

    The game that you've referred to as Icewind Dale is actually Neverwinter Nights.
    It's using a different engine completely (And thats another post), and isn't actually due out until june of next year

    And last time i checked Gearbox developed Half Life opposing forces..
    And the new Dreamcast Halflife..
    And they were dropped by Electronics Arts when they were developing Prax War.

    But they have nothing to do with Black Isle/Bioware/TSR
  • "I can cast any of these, right? On the list?"

    "Yes, a..any of the first level ones"

    "I wanna cast Magic Missle!"

    "Why are you casting magic missle? there's nothing to attack here!"

    "I.. I'm attacking the DARKNESS!"

    (insert nerdy laughter)
  • I may be responding to a troll, but "going gold" in this case means being put into final production (ie, CDs being stamped, boxes being made, shipping to start soon, etc.). It does NOT mean what it does for the record industry (ie. that half a million albums have sold). Half a million sales for a computer game is extraordinary, even these days.
  • since the game starts and you are in a prison being experimented upon by an insane wizard.

    as such, you've been stripped of your gear. you might find some of it as you escape from the wizard.

  • Baldur's Gate reminds me of Diablo, which bored me away from the entire genre.

    I watched my brother play Diablo as a high-level wizard. He looked engrossed, but all I saw was repetition. He kept torching wave after wave of undead with the same flame-throwing spell. When he was promoted, he used his new spell all of the time. That reinforced my opinion of the demo: the gameplay gets tedious.

    One way that games attract players, besides being fun, is to create artifical goals for the player. The theme of the introduction is that you will inevitably kill all of the bad guys, not that you will try it out and then leave satisfied. Presumably, when the player completes the mission, he will be rewarded, perhaps by the unraveling of a mystery. In the case of Diablo, the main goal is character developement which is rewarded by seeing new animations, as well as bragging rights.

    However, that just doesn't motivate me. Once I envision the theoretical possibility that my character can gain gold and levels, I just don't care about seeing it actually happen. I played rogue, so I know that I can do it eventually. I am more interested in being challenged. Any monkey can build a high-level character if they waste enough hours on it. As for the imagery, it was nothing special. I can guess approximately what a fireball looks like. I don't need to spend hours to get it.

    Just because you can stress the limits of your machine doesn't mean that you must. Some of those simple, old-fashioned games were way more fun. Sure, the space ships were 2D cartoon-like icons, but the whole picture was a strategic overhead view and an exercise in visual planning, anticipating how all of those interacting sprites would move around. Contrast that with first person shooters, which naturally limit participation to parsing complex, fast-changing scenery.

    Rather than join the hoards of compulsive upgraders, I will continue to play classic games with fun cartoonish figures and strategic 2D overhead views.

  • and BG2 isn't supposed to be as much of a killfest.

    I'm playing through BG1 again right now, and it is truly a fine game. I did play through Torment several times, and torment is a better RPG but Baldur's Gate is a fine game in it's right.

    If you're really interested, you could go to www.bgchronicles.com [bgchronicles.com] and read up on the game a bit.

    There has been no word as to whether or not there will be a PS:T 2. I've seen speculation as to how it could be done, but it would be strange. The Nameless One is stuck in the lower planes for a long time, a sequel might involve Fall-From-Grace trying to get him back, but Black Isle is incredibly silent on any talk of a sequel. I know Black Isle is working on an as-of-now undisclosed project, so who knows.

    Moller
  • I would highly recommend Icewind Dale, in addition to BG and ToSC. I completed Icewind Dale with slight of hand, stealth, and tactics. My party consisted of a Paladin, Fighter, Bard, Cleric, Thief, and Mage. There is a cool sword hidden in the game, Pale Defender, for the Paladin (+7 against evil). You will need it for the baddy at the end. There is another sword you find near the end that is a real killer. Just remember the man with the dreams...

    vi
    i
    "Enter your comments here!"
    ESC
    :q!
  • it continues the storyline of BG1 directly. And you only start at level 9 with certain classes. Most people will probably import their character from Baldur's Gate into BG2, it simply wouldn't make any sense if your 7th level fighter was suddenly level 1 again.
  • I am sorry to burst the bubble, but Icewind Dale is out.. Check out the website below for more info:
    Icewind Dale [interplay.com]

    vi
    i
    "Enter your comments here!"
    ESC
    :q!

  • More importantly, they fixed most of the things in the Baldur's Gate engine that really pissed me off. Moving between maps is much faster, and you never get waylayed when traveling large distances. And, resting the party doesn't have that f-ing animation - you just click the rest button and 8 or 16 hours pass

    Unfortunately, they made a few minor blunders with the pathfinding engine. When you command your characters to walk a long distance, like from the entrance of a cleared out dungeon level to the exit, it's anyone's guess what path they'll actually take and where they'll end up stopping. Many times I've done that and flipped to the big map only to shout "What the hell are you guy's doing over there!?!".

  • Weren't there scripts that you could use/modify that would dictate the default behavior of each character? IIRC, you could set it up so your magic users would cast offensive spells first, then retreat, etc. I think you could choose default weapons too.
  • go to Baldur's Gate Chronicles [bgchronicles.com]

    It has all the information you could ever want on Baldur's Gate 2, updates from the development team, etc.
  • DM:"...After fleeing into the farmer's single door house with a wooden door and hay roof. You find yourselves surrounded outside by the Evil Sorcerer whose imp familiar you froze and his legion of Orcs and Ogres."
    Player 1 (The Paladin):"Can I see how many are outside?"
    DM:"All you see from the window is Orcs in your view with two Ogres holding torches on either side of the mage" "The Sorcerer calls to you 'Please surrender and I will not kill you, but turn you over to the master. I will give you have a moment to reply."
    Player 1:"Are you guys in with me?"
    Player 2 (The Mage):"This is just great!...Yes, we are #?!*ed, but I am in."
    Player 3 (The Cleric):"By the gods...so be it"
    Player 4 (The Bard):"dunnt..dunnt...da...da, da...daaah...daah...daah...die...DAAAAAH...brummpt !"
    DM:"What's your reply?"
    Player 1:" Hey Mage...you got a magic missle spell left?"
    Player 2:"Yes?..."
    Player 1:"Send him our reply!"

    vi
    i
    "Enter your comments here!"
    ESC
    :q!
  • > Maybe Morte (always wondered how he managed to carry stuff for me ...) ;)

    Heh. You know the bit where Morte gets kidnapped? Well, guess who was carrying my skull collection? Seemed like a good idea at the time...
  • This guy isnt flamebait, he's got a point. Even if he isn't very smart, he realizes that games are important. Most people don't like to work, that all I do in linux. I mean, you can barely watch porn on Linux! BTW, XML.... don't go there. XML has nothing to do with windows, unlike DirectX.
  • Ya, I wasn't sure having both rings would work (imagine my surprise). The only way around it that I could see in a game was to limit the Ring of Wizardry to one per person, or it only doubles the base for that level that you can memorize - in this case, with a 8th level wizard with 4 first level spells, 2 RoW would give 12 spells, not 16.

    There's a bunch of other exploits my highschool's RPG club was able to pull off, but I'd have to talk to them about it - It's been such a long time that I've forgotten it all.

    Except for Rob's glowing Amazon (every DM said "No") =)


    Just say "YES" to Giant Space Hamsters!
  • God, you gotta love us engineers/nerds.. The world does too revolve around us!!! WE PICK THE COORDINATE SYSTEM!

    Bwahahahahaha

    You're killing me ;-)
    ---CONFLICT!!---
  • Funny you should mention that.

    THe next thing that Bioware (the company who made the engine and produced Baldur's Gate, Tales of the Sword Coast, and Baldur's Gate II... not to be confused with Black Island, which is the division of Interplay and distributed all the above games as well as using the same engine to produce Torment and Icewind Dale) {deep breath} is working on is something called Never Winter nights. Essentially a translation of AD&D 3rd edition rules to the computer complete with customizable tools to make your own adventures, GM them for the on-line players (complete with you taking over control of NPCs) and the idea of distrubuting 'modules' (ie expansion packs). Check it out at www.neverwinternights.com

    Oh... and did I mention that they plan to release the program SIMULTANEOUSLY for Window, Macintosh, and LINUX. (which will also mean that the game engine is available to be used in other products for all three platforms... cool).


  • ....more empty space and bad voice acting.

    Did anyone else not like the original because of the empty space and the talking? IMO, RPG's should not talk. If you need some kind of speech from the characters, it should be left to a bare minimum (Planescape: Torment was very good in this aspect). ESPECIALLY the main character, if s/he's generated by the player. If the point of an RPG is to play the role of another, shouldn't the player be left to fill in all the details about his/her avatar?

  • It's funny, I actually had this in the original. There was a ring of wizardry you could get in the city of baldurs gate, as well as a ring of wizardry that was just sitting on the ground outside the friendly arm inn in the grass (was pretty tough to find). I think a patch later removed, then possibly another put back, the FAI ring. Anyhow, at the time, the bioware engine didn't support having the little spellboxes scroll off the screen, so you could PICK more than 12, but you didn't SEE them in the spell book screen -- and there was also some weird bug where you would periodically lose all your spells completely for levels where you could cast too many. You'd open your spellbook and have none selected. That bug was in Icewind Dale too (the unpatched version, anyhow).

  • Well, there goes... (Score:5)

    by Enoch Root ( 57473 ) on Thursday September 14, 2000 @01:33PM (#778867)
    ...your claim that you rebooted to Windows only to watch DVDs...

    If this keeps up, we'll uncover the sinister truth: that CmdrTaco runs Win2K exclusively!

  • Well you can port characters over, although it is entirely possible that not all the items will make it across (I've seen that before in some games). The ship date is good too, as it's near the end of the month, which is paycheck time for a lot of game-players.

    However, I don't think it's going to do well in the Christmas season. Just my opinion on this, but it just does not feel like a big Christmas "must-buy".

    Kierthos
  • Hah! You have it easy... I still have *160* to go. But I'm getting there... 1 flame at a time.
  • Baldurs Gate was a fun game. I'd say that the original game starts off a little slow - getting the first few levels can be both time consuming and a little redundant. Then you learn two things simultaneously: random sirine encounters pour out xp, and missile weapons rule that game.

    That said, I'd get ToSC -- it has the best quests in the game. Durlag's Tower is downright cool, and there are some really tough fights and a cool quest relating to werebeasts on an island in the pack. I enjoyed the expansion pack as much or more than the original game. I'd actually think it would be cool if they published more, like serial novels, or something.

  • I still have *160* to go. But I'm getting there... 1 flame at a time.
    In the pride and folly of my youth I decided to keep my karma between 120 and 150 rather than stockpile as much as I could.
    I am older, sadder and wiser now.
    --Shoeboy
  • My friends and I each bought a copy of Bauldur's Gate and Diablo for that very reason. We can pretty much let the computer DM our games... More fun for us!

  • Re:Now if they only hurried up with Planescape 2.. (Score:3)

    by JavaTenor ( 232983 ) on Thursday September 14, 2000 @03:47PM (#778873)
    BG2:
    Most advance reviews claim it has a far more intricate and involving plot than BG1. If Bioware is to be believed (and I tend to trust them), each of the party-joinable NPCs in BG2 will have as much dialogue as all of the party-joinable NPCs in BG1 combined - as well as several character-specific subquests. Most previews have also mentioned that the quests seem much more complex this time - far fewer "kill foo" or "bring me binky"/FedEx quests.

    Also note that each character class gets its own "stronghold" quest - these promise to be quite interesting:

    Fighter - acquire a keep, which may need to be defended from a siege
    Ranger - a cabin in the woods, as well as a small hamlet to protect
    Paladin - join the Order of the Radiant Heart
    Thief - run a thieves' guild
    Bard - put on a show in a (possibly haunted) playhouse
    Priest - run a temple
    Mage - mystic tower, complete with magical laboratory and a guardian golem

    Planescape: Torment:
    I'd love a sequel. Two factors may prevent it:
    1. The ending of the first one didn't leave much room for a second story. It would have to involve a different main character.
    2. I don't believe the game sold very well. A shame, because it's a true classic.
  • You're not cool just because you went to E3 -- everyone and their mother went to E3, including my cat :>. Googleshng and Gin are 200 times better at letters than you ever were, you incompetent dolt. FOAD.

    P.S. I had sex and you didn't :>

  • Uh, Icewind Dale was released the same day as Diablo II.
  • Because CmdrTaco plays it!

    The nick is a joke! Really!
  • I think you meant neverwinter nights.

  • I second the hell out of that notion. PT has a very original story line. Very engrossing as well. However, not much replay value after you beat it. The ending is pretty anticlimactic, but the game itself is loads of fun and so are the characters. Overall, a game well worth spending money on.
  • Great, another game my roommate will want to install on my windows machine. Every time a role-playing game comes out, he goes out and buys it and says "Can I install this on your computer???"

    Too damn cheap to buy his own.
  • Somewhere in the prefs you can shut off the damn voices, or set voices to only occur on activation and or commands, and say if you want the voices all the time or 20% of the time.
  • Baldur's Gate reminds me of Diablo, which bored me away from the entire genre.

    If you haven't played Baldur's Gate you should know that there are a number of differences between Baldur's Gate and Diablo. They really aren't even in the same genre.

    Diablo is very similar to the Rogue-like games. You get the same random map generation and monster respawning. There is an unlimited amount of experience and gold to be collected. This makes it very easy for those whose only goal is the get the levels upon levels, and extra animations. The plot feel like an afterthought for the most part. It really should be categorized as an arcade game.

    Baldur's Gate is not an arcade game. They have actual writer's who compose the plots for Baldur's Gate which are interesting and varied. The gameplay is centered around these plots, and as such there aren't wave after wave of undead to be blasted. Once you have visited a place and cleared out the nasties, they are gone when you return. This puts a limit on the experience and gold to be collected with the same tactics.

    One is presented with a wide variety of choices in party members, all of whom have quite detailed backgrounds, and personalized plotlines. They interact with the world based on those backgrounds.

    Baldur's Gate is an RPG and nothing like Diablo except on a superficial level.

    Even on the superficial level, Baldur's Gate looks much better than Diablo. Every area is hand drawn as a whole. Diablo uses the repetitive tile approach and gets pretty boring fast.

  • I can't say enough good things about Planescape Torment. It has a very directed story line, so if you don't like that sort of thing than stay away, but the story it has kicks ass. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good RPG.

    It's also from BioWare ;)
    --
  • I know I for one have been waiting for this release for a long time. This is one of the most prommising games of the year.
  • ...your claim that you rebooted to Windows only to watch DVDs...

    Be one with the ways of the VMWare...

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