Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn Preview

The characters start the game with 89 000 Experience Points that will eliminate the frustration of getting their asses kicked by tough adversaries in the initial stages of the game. "In Baldur's Gate II you are able to import characters and saved games from Baldur's Gate or from the expansion pack, Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast. Even if you have uninstalled Baldur's Gate, you will still be able to access your old save games and characters (if you've not physically deleted them). There will also be pre-made characters that you can use if you do not want to go through character generation. They represent a broad selection of popular character types that the newcomers should enjoy playing. In Baldur's Gate II, there is an experience point cap of 2950000 XP. This means that characters can never earn more than 2950000 XP during the course of the game"...

Burn, baby, burn, Disco Inferno with red demons...

Trouble starts with a great fireball exploding into nearby building...

Adding to the original, there are now more options available for leading an evil party. Even though the BG series is based on epic and heroic deeds, there are many more quests available where you can play a more shady character. Provided you do not act in a psychotic fashion (mass murderers are generally not tolerated by society), there will be more scope available for evil characters.

Combat plays an important role in any CRPG, and it goes for Baldur's Gate II, as well. The new combat system is highly customizable. Its basis remains the same - real time combat, with the possibility of pausing the game for giving out orders or casting spells. However, turn-based fans can play the game in turn-based mode with new autopause settings - which in in-game terms means you can set the autopause for a certain event in combat: the character is hit, or a spell is cast... The new combat style introduces a "dual wielding weapon" mode, and it allows the character to fight with a sword in each hand, which speeds up attacks and inflicts more damage. All these upgrades make the, otherwise excellent Combat System additionally detailed and selective.

Naturally, a great combat system is worthless without equally entertaining adversaries, and Baldur's Gate II features some huge-sized ones, some of which will take up half the screen. (Whoa there! - Ed.) Since the AD&D bestiary is enormous, one can only imagine what can be encountered in-game (Ettins, Orcs...). Beholders are my favorites. They were omitted in the original. For those that don't know what Beholders are: Enormous bug-eyes and more eyes on tentacles; they are dangerous spellcasters, which makes them, mildly putting it, formidable adversaries.

Large numbers of exotic creatures will make tourist trips to Amn interesting for any player. Should you come across a random encounter, or a lair of one of the 230 hideous monsters, you might feel inclined to dispatch it. The combat preserves the "feel" it had in the original, whilst providing designs that are more elaborate and brimming with eye candy. There are 300 new spells included in the game, so you can cast anything from simple, level one spells, right up to level nines of supernatural death. More weapons have been included and Magic weapons, unique weapons and power items will be available.

A special influence on the game derives from the sidekicks that join your party. They are many, of which some are old, but the majority are new. BioWare collected information on the popularity of NPCs in the original, and simply carried them over to the sequel. The new NPCs, however, are developed in a very creative fashion. Here are two examples:

Mazzy Fentan (lawful good, halfling female, fighter) is the leader of a band of adventurers that hail from the Amnish town of Trademeet, a group that has gained no small degree of reputation for itself over the past several years. Mazzy, herself, is the nearest thing to a paladin that a halfling can aspire to. She is a Truesword in the service of the hafling goddess of war, Arvoreen, and both her valiance and honor are unquestioned. Mazzy and her group were last reported to be venturing to the Umar Hills and have not been seen since.

Haer'Dalis (HARE-dah-leece - chaotic neutral, tiefling male, blade) is a rarity in this plane - he has the blood of a fiend within his ancestry, giving him an unusual appearance and an aura that makes "primes" (dwellers of the Prime Material Plane) nervous. The bard makes up for this with his wit and charm, having crossed the planes with a fellow group of troubadours who have set up a temporary home in a new playhouse beneath the Five Flagons Inn in the Bridge District of Athkatla. The playhouse has garnered accolades since its opening, although the tiefling himself has recently been curiously absent.

We are eagerly anticipating these, and a bunch of other characters from the AD&D fantasy to appear in the game. Some of them, like Drizzt Do'Urden and Elminster are "guest starring" for the second time. There's even a buzz that Drizzt will react to your character depending on how you treated him in the original (Think hard. Did you kill him, rob him, or simply chat with him?), but that's probably a rumor. Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is a game yours truly has been (in)patiently waiting for, all year long. Only a couple of weeks more, and I won't be getting out for at least 300 hours... Dad, get my magic-portable-fridge-full-of-greasy-junk-food survival kit ready... I'm heading down to the basement to play a game...