Recounting Bioware's Baldur's Gate II

radicalskeptic writes "In the latest installment of Gamespot's series modestly titled 'The Greatest Games of All Time', the editors review Bioware's RPG classic from 2000: Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. The article is a broad overview of the game and touches on the game's innovations, comments on its historical significance, and includes a section devoted to BGII's romantic subplot. Gamespot concludes that 'all in all, Baldur's Gate II is a towering achievement in the history of role-playing games, giving you a huge world to explore, plenty of well-drawn NPCs to argue with or get romantic with, and an engaging story that's simultaneously epic and personal.'"

There will never be another BGII ...

[arcite]

Call me pathetic. But I have a standing game of BGII still on my hard drive and I haven't yet finished the game! I stopped somewhere around the first level of watchers keep. I just don't want this game to end! I have started and restarted different parties around 5 or 6 times over the last few years, but have yet to actually go the distance to finish it off once and for all. I guess some games can do that to you. Its like reading a good book. You know that you will have to finish it eventually...but all the while at the back of your mind you know that there will never be another book written like it ever again. :::sigh::: So long to the era of 2d isometric, hand drawn masterpieces of yore. I salute you!

Re:NPCs to warm your sleeping furs at night?

[MajroMax]

Baldur's Gate II [gives] you a huge world to explore, plenty of well-drawn NPCs to argue with or get romantic with...

*shudder*

Not really -- it's only as "creepy" as a fantasy novel with romantic subplot. Baldur's Gate II was extremely well-written, and the overall experience was like a novel wrapped up with D&D game mechanics. Most notably, the NPC's behaved in a believable way, with inner conflicts and personality flaws.

The sex, if it happened, was entirely "offstage", referred to only in dialogue, and occured only within the framework of a deeper romantic subplot.