Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn Preview

It's really hard to write a preview on a game that everybody's been buzzing about so much. Yep, I'm talking about Baldur's Gate II --- the sequel to the game that changed a whole genre in computer entertainment, and kept players like me, glued to the computer screen day and night. A software company, located in Edmonton, Canada, by the name of Bioware is in charge of developing the game. They coded, designed the game, and provided the marvelous artwork. Black Isle Studios are in charge of publishing the product, as well as PR...

Ring of fire, what a lovely way to burn...

White, strange-lookin' flower...

Official add-on pack, Tales of The Sword Coast and Planescape: Torment have only hinted what could be done with the excellent Infinity engine. Every outstanding aspect of the RPG genre is highlighted in Baldur's Gate 2. This includes preserving the good atmosphere, and bringing new experiences to players. Apparently, there are only a couple of weeks before the game is finally released, and it's already obvious that Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn will be one of those marvelous, must-have CRPG adventures...

Our hero is the descendant of Bhaal, God, and Lord of The Murder. As such, he is the target of many strangers who know parts of his secret. After defeating his brother Sarevok in the end of the original, our hero prevented the war of Sword Coast and the region of Amn. The plot is once again placed in the setting of Forgotten Realms; it picks up four months after the events in the original --- our hero wakes up in a mean dungeon, drowsy and without a single item in the inventory. As we later find out, he got captured by a mad, unknown wizard that conduced weird experiments on his prisoners. Our character has amnesia, but a few familiar characters will remind him of the recent events. They are, in fact, some of the NPCs from the original: Imoen (she's a friend of our hero from childhood days, but also a sexy lookin' thief-spellcaster), Minsc (crazy ranger with his hamster Boo - I'll always remember his war-cry from the original- "Go for the eyes Boo!") and Jahiera (A druid and a member of Harpers, semi-secret society). Once you've liberated them, they'll accompany you in the quests to come. After their escape, the characters will go to Amn, and try to find out what happened to them by solving the mysteries surrounding their disappearance. The setting in the sequel will be much bigger and richer than the original. The player will probably be able to visit some ten in-game locations, and the story develops through several regions: Sword Coast, Amn, and the cities of Athkatla, and Suldanesselar. Dr. Ray Muzyka, Joint CEO at BioWare Corp, announced that Baldur's Gate II game world would be some ten times the size of the original. It is estimated that an average player should complete the game in about 300 hours. The available locations include: Abyss, Elven Forests, Astral Planes, Underwater Cities, and many others.

The story in Baldur's Gate II shows a lot of progression... So much so, that it should, by all accounts totally immerse the players. Characters interact with their worlds and other characters to make the role-playing aspects as compelling, and satisfying as possible. The improvement of the Forgotten Realms setting is mainly due to the tweaking of the Infinity engine. The game features a built-in support for the 800x600 resolution (Although there will be an unofficial support for higher resolutions!), which should make the screen appear wider and more enticing. There will be the option of removing side and bottom panels, so the screen will be devoted fully to the in-game occurrences. The backgrounds remain in 2D, although numerous special effects, (reflections of shiny surfaces, in particular) and magic spells use 3D acceleration.

Creating characters for Baldur's Gate II stays in part true to the original, with a few changes. As we all know, the system is based on the second edition of the AD&D rules, but with less freedom and reference to third edition. First, there is a new optional rule of character subclasses or 'Kits'. Each class now has a subset of 'Kits' that may be chosen. When you pick a class, you will be given a subset of kits to choose from. If you don't wish to use one, simply choose a default kit (named after the class). Kits give special advantages and disadvantages to the class that they are a subset of. For example: If you choose a 'Kensai' kit (a fighter kit), your character deals out more damage with his weapon than any other class in the game. However, your character is unable to use armor or missile weapons.

Magic spell...

Did you see that statue move?

This way, characters will be much more "specialized" in their own class. The character class will be much more important than in the original. NPCs, for example, will react differently to certain classes, and there will be specific qualities for each class. Druids can Shapeshift into animals (wolves or bears). Thieves can place deadly traps, which can, on higher levels contain a dangerous spell. Wizards can summon familiar magical creatures, which enhance his abilities. The Familiars are particularly interesting, since a mage of any alignment can summon a certain Familiar (cat, dragon, fairy dragon, imp...), which will give advice, bonuses or help the Party during battle. If the going gets rough, the Familiar can be squeezed into a backpack and kept from harms way.

If the Familiar dies, the wizard loses one point of his constitution...

Certain quests allow the characters to get their own strongholds according to their class-the wizard gets a library, the bard gets a theatre, the fighter gets a fortress... Every stronghold allows additional quests, which leaves the player with several options and increases pleasure of the game. There are 11 classes from which the players can choose their newly created characters. Each of them is consists of different levels: Fighter (19th), Paladin (17th), Ranger (17th), Wizard (17th), Cleric (21st), Druid (14th), Thief (23rd), Bard (23rd), Sorcerer (17th), Monk (21st), and Barbarian (19th). As you've probably already noticed (Yeah, if you're a hard-core, like they are - Ed.) there are two new classes-Barbarian and Monk. Apart from the standard races (Elf, Half-Elf, Human, Dwarf, Halfling), the game will include an additional one, requested by us, the players - Half Orc.

As in the original game, the characters can be customized to your preferences by giving them a set of samples, specific outfits, as well as a picture of your choice. The players that want the full indulgence can write down their experiences in the Diary, and use those in Multiplayer games. In the words of the developers: "The multiplayer experience is very solid in Baldur's Gate II, with non-pausing dialog in stores and non-critical dialog". Adding bags for gems, scrolls and books will enhance the Inventory in a simple way. Gem bags and scroll cases can be bought in stores, or found while adventuring. These items are used to store multiple gems and scrolls, and thus free up inventory space.