One of the best games ever.
Baldur’s Gate II, that is.
After playing Alan Wake, a game that I could have said so, so much more about - in a negative light - I needed to play something fun, something really good, something that was excellent the first time I played it and was going to be excellent this time as well. That game is, of course, Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn with the Throne of Bhaal expansion pack.
This is one of my all time favourite games, one of those games that forever shall be a yard-stick against which all new games shall be judged. You can’t help doing that when you play a game like this. BGII is one of the longest, most well written, most engaging, most enjoyable games out there. Forever after playing it you’ll remember great lines from your party members. “Go for the eyes, Boo, go for the eyes! ” and “I have lost myself in your words but Boo thinks you’re just ducky.” from Minsc - and Boo - as well as “I can’t! I’m allergic! Well, not that allergic.” from Jan Jansen are among my favourites. Pretty much anything Minsc says in reference to Boo is awesome, and Jan’s got a few other good one liners.
There’s certainly a lot of humour in the game, but it’s not all so light. There’s enough darkness to make you appreciate the light. You get to fight such a wide variety of foes, too, from Beholders to Mind Flayers, from Umber Haulks to Vampires, and you even get to fight - and kill if you’re awesome like I am - a black and a red dragon!
There’s so much to talk about with this game, and the storyline is so epic, that one little blog post really can’t begin to cover it’s total amount of awesomeness. All I can say is, if you’ve not played this game, go get yourself a copy now! If you have, and you have fond memories of it, then get it back out, play it windowed, and have a great time with it all over again!
