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Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
Developer(s)BioWare
Publisher(s)Black Isle Studios, Interplay Entertainment
Designer(s)James Ohlen (Director of Writing and Design / Lead Designer); Kevin Martens (Lead Designer), David Gaider, Brent Knowles, Lukas Kristjanson, and John Winski (Core Design Team)
Composer(s)Michael Hoenig (Metamusic Productions)
SeriesBaldur's Gate
EngineInfinity Engine
Platform(s)Windows, Macintosh
Release
September 24, 2000
  • Windows
    Macintosh
Genre(s)Computer role-playing game
Mode(s)Single player, Multiplayer

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 characters

See 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.

Plot

The player character awakens in a cage being experimented upon by an elven mage, Jon Irenicus. Imprisoned in the same underground complex are Imoen, Minsc and Jaheira from the original Baldur's Gate game. They work together to escape the dungeon, only to find themselves in the city of Athkatla. At the dungeon entrance, they encounter Irenicus battling thieves. Imoen attacks Irenicus with magic, upon which several Cowled Wizards arrive to detain the two for unlicensed use of magic. The two are teleported away to be imprisoned in a distant detention center, Spellhold.

The remaining party meets a man who offers an opportunity to rescue Imoen, for a hefty payment. This sum is far above the party's current means, so the money must be raised by adventuring through Athkatla and the surrounding lands. Eventually, a mysterious woman named Valen offers to introduce them to her mistress, the vampiress Bodhi. Thereafter, at some point the player will be forced to ally with either Aran Linvail's Shadow Thieves, or with Bodhi's vampires.

Irenicus managed to escape captivity at Spellhold and kill his captors. With his new base at Spellhold, he continued his experiments on Imoen. With the help of captain Saemon Havarian, the party gains passage to the small island on which Spellhold is located. After finding a means to infiltrate the asylum, they are greeted by a mage who proceeds to show the player character the various insane inmates. Upon finding Imoen, the party is betrayed, as a drug had been slipped into their food, rendering them unconscious.

The main character wakes to find himself imprisoned by Irenicus. In another of a series of troubling dreams, he finds Imoen inside Candlekeep, where she asks him to summon and slay a demon called Bhaal. With the demon defeated, the main character finds his soul has been removed, and Imoen has suffered a similar fate; their souls were claimed by Irenicus and Bodhi, respectively. The party are released, only to be hunted by Bodhi. Because his soul was lost, the player character involuntarily transforms into an avatar of Bhaal, the Slayer, and scares Bodhi into retreat. However, rendered mindless, the Slayer attacks the other party members, often slaying them.

Upon returning to normal, the player and Imoen battle Irenicus until the wizard is forced to flee into the Underdark. In the aftermath, the player enters a dream sequence in which he learns to gains control of the slayer transformation. When the party follows Jon Irenicus, they become trapped in the Underdark. They learn that they can escape by helping a silver dragon named Adalon to recover her eggs from the Drow, a race of evil elves. The dragon uses illusion to disguise the party as drow, in order to help them infiltrate the House Despana of the nearby Drow city of Ust'Natha, which is planning to use the eggs to summon a powerful demon.

The party returns to the surface where they encounter an army from the elven city of Suldanessellar. They discover that, while the elves were fighting off the Drow, Jon Irenicus sneaked into Suldanessellar and magically sealed the entrance. To enter this city, the player must retrieve the Rhynn Lanthorn artifact from Bodhi in Athkatla. Once the player defeats Bodhi, Imoen's soul will be restored.

The party proceeds through Suldanessellar and learns more about the life of the elf Jon Irenicus. He was 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. Both were stripped of their elf-hood, and thus their immortality. Irenicus' solution is to steal the player character and Imoen's partly-divine souls.

With Irenicus holding Ellesime prisoner and beginning a ritual at the Tree of Life, 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.

Development

Reception

Baldur's Gate II was met with worldwide acclaim upon its release,[4] with Metacritic listing it as the 6th highest scoring PC game on the site as of July 16th, 2010.[25] Computer Gaming World's reviewer said, "I think of this as Game Of The Year or even Hall Of Fame material [...] it certainly ranks up there with greats like Fallout, Planescape: Torment, and Betrayal At Krondor".[18]

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.[11] GameSpot felt that the opening level of the game "falls flat", but that it gets much better once the player reaches Athkatla.[10]

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."[11]

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.[10][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".[11] GameSpot found that the game's loading times were a "bit long" and that the game crashes on occasion.[10] Reviewers also felt that the small number of character portraits to choose from was a disappointment.[10]

...the only reason [Baldur's Gate II] can't be called the best game in its class is because in a sense there's nothing available that compares to it.

— Greg Kasavin, GameSpot[10]

Awards

Baldur's Gate II was inducted into Gamespot's "Greatest Games of All Time" list,[20] and it also won their Readers' Choice Game of the Year award for 2000.[22] It also received three "Gaming Globe" awards from Eurogamer in 2001: Best Game, Best Art Direction, and Best Male Supporting Character (for Minsc).[19] GameSpy, GameSpot, and IGN all awarded Baldur's Gate II their "Role-Playing Game of the Year" awards in 2000.[21][23][24] IGN also placed it at #25 on their 2005 "Top 100 Games of All Time" list.[26]

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".[27]

Non-player characters

  • Biff the Understudy makes a cameo appearance as an understudy for a play, and is booed from the stage.
  • The player can encounter some NPCs from the Dragonlance world, even a Knight of Solamnia, and is able to help them get back to their realm if the main character is a mage. Additionally, in the same quest the player encounters a group of Halflings from the Dark Sun campaign setting.
  • Some of the more unusual NPCs in the game were put in after winning a contest held during the development cycle. Habib, who attacks by throwing his scimitar and later throwing gold coins at the player, was the #1 winner.[28]
  • Many minor NPCs in the game and its expansion were named after members of the suggestion forums provided by BioWare. Examples include Gromnir, Draconis, and Yakman.
  • The NPC Mayor of Imnesvale is named Minister Lloyd Wainwright. This is in reference to the cities of Lloydminster and Wainwright. Both cities are in Alberta, the same province where the game was developed.
  • Drizzt Do Urden makes an appearance after the player character leaves the Underdark. He is accompanied by Cattie-Brie, Wulfgar, Bruneor Battlehammer, Regis and Guenhwyvar. The player can ask him to help fight against Bodhi when the characters face her in chapter 6. If the player acquired his swords and armor in Baldur's Gate and imported the player character into Baldur's Gate 2, then Drizzt will recognize the player character and demand his equipment back.

Versions and re-releases

Shadows 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.

Novelization

There are two novelizations based on the game and its expansion. The novels focus solely on Abdel, the last of the Bhaalspawn.

See also

References

  1. ^ "About Bioware". BioWare. Archived from the original on August 6, 2009. Retrieved August 6, 2009.
  2. ^ "Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on August 6, 2009. Retrieved August 6, 2009.
  3. ^ "Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn". GameStats. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on August 6, 2009. Retrieved August 6, 2009.
  4. ^ a b "Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn PC". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on August 6, 2009. Retrieved August 6, 2009.
  5. ^ "Critic Reviews: Baldurs Gate II: Shadows of Amn". TopTenReviews. Archived from the original on August 6, 2009. Retrieved August 6, 2009.
  6. ^ Woods, Nick. "Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn Review". Allgame. Macrovision Corporation. Archived from the original on August 7, 2009. Retrieved May 31, 2009.
  7. ^ Talith (October 13, 2000). "Baldur's Gate II : Shadows of Amn". EuroGamer. Archived from the original on August 7, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
  8. ^ a b c Wright, Brian (November 24, 2000). "Review: Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn". GamePro. Archived from the original on August 7, 2009. Retrieved May 31, 2009.
  9. ^ Lafferty, Michael (October 18, 2000). "Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn Review". GameZone. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Kasavin, Greg (September 29, 2000). "Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn Review". GameSpot. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
  11. ^ a b c d McConnaughy, Tim "Juan Golbez". "Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn ". GameSpy. Retrieved May 30, 3009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  12. ^ a b IGN Staff (October 10, 2000). "Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn". IGN. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
  13. ^ a b c Wright, Andrew (August 13, 2001). "Baldur's Gate II: Shadows Of Amn". PC Zone. Retrieved June 2, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. ^ a b c d e f Wojnarowicz, Jakub (October 2, 2000). "Baldur's Gate 2 Review". FiringSquad. Retrieved May 31, 2009.
  15. ^ a b samoht (October 9, 2000). "Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn". Gameplanet. Retrieved May 31, 2009.
  16. ^ Desmond, Matthew. "Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn". Just Adventure. Retrieved May 31, 2009.
  17. ^ a b Lord Craxton. "Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn - Retroview". RPGamer. Retrieved May 31, 2009.
  18. ^ a b Nguyen, Thierry (December 5, 2000). "Baldur's Gate II". Computer Gaming World. Archived from the original on February 10, 2001. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
  19. ^ a b c d Bye, John "Gestalt" (March 26, 2001). "Gaming Globes 2001 : The Results". EuroGamer. Retrieved June 2, 2009.
  20. ^ a b "Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn". The Greatest Games of All Time. GameSpot. Retrieved May 31, 2009.
  21. ^ a b "Role-Playing Game of the Year". GameSpot. Retrieved June 2, 2009.
  22. ^ a b "GameSpot's 2000 Readers' Choice Awards". GameSpot. Retrieved June 2, 2009.
  23. ^ a b The GameSpy Staff. "2000 RPG Game of the Year". GameSpy. Retrieved June 2, 2009.
  24. ^ a b IGN Staff. "Best of 2000 Awards". IGN. Retrieved June 2, 2009.
  25. ^ "All Games By Score". Metacritic. Retrieved May 31, 2009.
  26. ^ "IGN's Top 100 Games". IGN. 2005. Retrieved 2009-11-8. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  27. ^ The Game Informer staff (2009). "The Top 200 Games of All Time". Game Informer (200): 44–79. ISSN 1067-6392. OCLC 27315596. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  28. ^ "BGII:SvA Chat - Bioware, Virgin Interactive, RPGHeaven.de". RPGHeaven.de. Retrieved April 7, 2008.
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