#4: Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000)
The perfect set-up: one of the most beloved and brilliant computer game adaptations of the much-enjoyed table-top role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons. The game? Baldur's Gate. This absolutely BLEW it out of the water. We all knew it was coming, but nothing could have prepared us for the adventure...
***** Warning ***** SPOILERS AHEAD *****
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Sarevok proved a worthy adversary in the first game, but Jon Irenicus was something else. The quest to slay him would prove so much lengthier, more adrenaline- and wonder-packed, and enjoyable than the first. The story continues straight from Baldur's Gate, with an option to import your party. Be assured, that does not render the game trivial by any means.
What was the hardest fight in the first? Possibly Drizzt Do'Urden, or Sarevok. Both hard-hitting melee characters. How does that compare to dragons, mind flayers (an entire nest...more cockroaches!), adamantite golems, the demogorgon, "I can't help being an evil son of a bitch"-beholders and being dumped in an enclave of the nicest guys you'll ever meet - The Underdark and the damn Drow. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, KANGAXX and his LICH BRETHREN. Good mother of cow, that was so painful. But of course, they simply had to go down. All of them. EVERY LAST ONE. Was it worth it? Was it pleasurable in the end? If you don't know the answer to that, ask anyone who played the game as seriously as I did.
Getting every little item, every +3 warhammer from the poor merchants, every hidden secret... I don't think any game, EVER, has made it quite so pleasurable. Pack on a great story, a finely-tuned battle engine, some oil-painting-esque graphics...and what do you have? Put it this way, if aliens came down to earth today, held me at laser-rifle-point, and demanded to see our greatest works of art, this would be one of the ones I'd show them.
I can't possibly urge people enough to try this out, if you have ANY tolerance for older games and RPGs. It is truly something to behold. It encouraged me to try out Dungeons and Dragons, with which I've had many great times as both DM (Dungeon Master - the person running the game for the others) and player. It forever manifested D&D as a fantastic system for simulating battles in my mind. Yes, maybe not the most realistic ever. A shining light of game design? You bet! Oh boy, is it fun. And to this day, a more faithful representation of that in the video game arena does not exist, to my knowledge. I'd be fascinated if such a thing did exist.
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***** Warning ***** SPOILERS AHEAD *****
.jpg)
***** Warning ***** SPOILERS AHEAD **
Sarevok proved a worthy adversary in the first game, but Jon Irenicus was something else. The quest to slay him would prove so much lengthier, more adrenaline- and wonder-packed, and enjoyable than the first. The story continues straight from Baldur's Gate, with an option to import your party. Be assured, that does not render the game trivial by any means.
What was the hardest fight in the first? Possibly Drizzt Do'Urden, or Sarevok. Both hard-hitting melee characters. How does that compare to dragons, mind flayers (an entire nest...more cockroaches!), adamantite golems, the demogorgon, "I can't help being an evil son of a bitch"-beholders and being dumped in an enclave of the nicest guys you'll ever meet - The Underdark and the damn Drow. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, KANGAXX and his LICH BRETHREN. Good mother of cow, that was so painful. But of course, they simply had to go down. All of them. EVERY LAST ONE. Was it worth it? Was it pleasurable in the end? If you don't know the answer to that, ask anyone who played the game as seriously as I did.
Getting every little item, every +3 warhammer from the poor merchants, every hidden secret... I don't think any game, EVER, has made it quite so pleasurable. Pack on a great story, a finely-tuned battle engine, some oil-painting-esque graphics...and what do you have? Put it this way, if aliens came down to earth today, held me at laser-rifle-point, and demanded to see our greatest works of art, this would be one of the ones I'd show them.
I can't possibly urge people enough to try this out, if you have ANY tolerance for older games and RPGs. It is truly something to behold. It encouraged me to try out Dungeons and Dragons, with which I've had many great times as both DM (Dungeon Master - the person running the game for the others) and player. It forever manifested D&D as a fantastic system for simulating battles in my mind. Yes, maybe not the most realistic ever. A shining light of game design? You bet! Oh boy, is it fun. And to this day, a more faithful representation of that in the video game arena does not exist, to my knowledge. I'd be fascinated if such a thing did exist.
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