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Sweetest game in along time!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 43
Date: December 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game will be sweet beyond a doubt! I can't wait to get my hands on a game worthy of the xbox's power. At least till Halo 2 comes out. this game will be awesome!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

BGDA2 is a mixed bag. It does a lot of things right, but it also messes up others. Here is on short the story:

The Good:
- 5 characters to choose from, plus 2 secret ones equals a lot of replayability! This time they have around double the number of skills from BGDA1. Also, secret skills can be 'discovered', once all the specific character quests are completed.
- unlimited arrows and bolts! No more quivers to carry around.
- weapons and armor can be upgraded in a workshop (like in Diablo, only that here you pay for it). This means you can craft your own weapons and armors.
- Easy plays like Easy, not like in the first game. Also, gaining levels is much easier. It took around 5 minutes to gain first 2 levels and it continues to be as easy. Spells don't cost much either, so you'll be powerful early in the game.
- using L and X,A,Y and B, you can set up up to 5 spells at a time
- characters are much more balanced than in the first game (where the sorceress' Lighting Ball was too strong). All classes play different, yet all seem to be as good and fit all playing styles.

The Bad:
- too many levels are huge mazes in very bad lit areas, where is hard to make sense who you are fighting or even where they are. This forces you to use the map, which makes it even harder to see around (in coop the map sits in the middle of the screen). The map is also needed for finding the secret areas, which means you have to use it all the time.
- bosses are very forgettable. In the first game, you could clearly remember every boss. Not here though. Most bosses are made easier, so most of the time they won't present a challenge
- Hard setting is still easy. Only Extreme presents a challenge.
- Finding the merchant in BG may be difficult (he's not shown on the map and he sits outside, in a place hard to see unless you rotate the default camera)
- Upgrading weapons takes a lot of money and stones. The system is a bit unintuitive - for example, making a +4 Strength weapon requires 8 Rune Stones and 8 Jacinth stones (those stones alone cost 40000 gold in total) and the number of stones increases exponentially for better items ...

The Ugly:
- Graphics! Forget the gorgeous BGDA... This sequel has poor textures, which came as a shock. While the characters look definitely better, the textures used for everything else are very poor. Black Isle designers also have no clue on using light sources - most levels are very dark (darker than Drow Underworld, for example).

Overall, i would recommend this game. While not as good as Diablo 2, I think is better than BGDA1 and Dungeons and Dragons Heroes and offers enough replayability to be worth the full price.

Awesome game, especially fun in coop mode with 2 players

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: January 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is tight from start to finish. It stuck with the winning formula from the first Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance and made it better, adding things like: more characters, improved graphics, larger levels, more spells, a unique item creation system, etc. I've been a gamer for over 20 years, and I know a fun game when I play one. Don't listen to the naysayers who expected this game to be different from the first one. If you liked the first game, you'll love this one.

Oh Well....

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: January 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The first RPG I ever played was "Dungeons of Daggorath" on a TRaSh 80 in the mid-80's. Lets put it this way, I appreciate any game that makes an attempt at bringing back the TRUE RPG experience. These so-called RPG's that are nothing more than hack-n-slash are fun in their own right, but are by no means a true RPG just because you can level-up and upgrade weapons and armor. The Baldur's Gate series has been around for a long time and, unless somebody picks up the franchise, this installment will be the last, since Black Isle Studios closed their doors a few weeks ago. I'm just glad that they were at least able to get this title out before that happened. That could be some of the reason for the faults of this game. Oh well, enjoy it. (Hmmm.... now if we could only convince Rockstar Games to enter the Fantasy RPG arena!)

Should have been better.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: January 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is just OK. Therein lies the problem. This game should have been awsome. If nothing else, the graphics should have AT LEAST been as good as the original. No dice. Second, the game is just way, way, way, and I mean way too easy. Perhaps its just because my friends and I have played the first one. But still, my character died once in the first half of the game, and that was probably because we just started ignore our life after a while because we never got hurt. . . Also, they give you so much treasure that it's just pathetic. If you like that, great. I find it pretty boring to get so much treasure that you don't really have to work hard to get new items. Can I mention again how rediculous it is that the graphics in this game are worse than the original Dark Alliance game? Rent it first.

Not much new...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 11
Date: January 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'd like to say that this was a good game, but it's hard to do.

First of all, I use component cables for my TV/Xbox and ran into tiles that didn't quite meet on a lot of levels. With how well the first game was put together, this came as a shock. The game was also disturbingly easy even on the Hard setting. It only took me 9 hours to beat on Hard without using any of the loopholes that are in the game.

The other disappointments would have to be story itself. Where you actually had some movement in the fist game, this game is stuck in one place and when I hit the 7 hour mark in the game I had thought I was only about a 1/3 of the way through. My bad!

Also, they recycled almost all of the textures from the other game. As another review on a different website said, the water effects that were so stunning in the first game now look old and dated.

I guess I just expected a little more from a company that put out Knights of the Old Republic and the BG computer series and the original DA.

Not as good as I expected,but very fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I still have to give it 5 stars because I really did enjoy playing to the point of not being able to put it down. I agree with some of the other negative comments made by others,but I still had a lot of fun playing. My biggest complaint is that it was not long enough for me(you can beat the game in a weekend).The longest thing about playing is upgrading your weapons and armor with the gems. I was just hoping they were going to make it longer than the first. After you beat it the first time,you will find that the extreme level is much more of the difficulty level you were looking for. I too thought hard was too easy as well. I also wish it would have been 4 player like Dungeons and Dragons Heros, instead of two. At least they made it two player like the first one. If you are looking for a pretty quick,but fun RPG,then I think you'll be happy with this game. Plus, you can have one other person join you in the game. I am a huge Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind fan,so I would keep that in mind when I complain about the length of the game. I had to get the game of the year edition the first day it came out because I wanted more hours of play. I consider Dark Alliance 2 more like the happy meal version of an RGP.I still think most people will really enjoy playing. So if you are still worried because of what you've read from the reviews,then I suggest you rent it. You can't go wrong renting and you will not be out $50.*FOR PS2 USERS:Don't play Champions of Norrath before playing this one.*

It was about time - and worth the wait

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: February 03, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Well it took just short of forever for the sequel to the first blockbuster hack and slash but it forgive the wait. I have read the other reviews and with exception to one - the rest were crybabies. Wipe the tears - you still played the game all the way through and probably more than once. To be completely honest this game was just as fun and the first one and possibly more because of the new characters. Yes to beat it the first time will only burn up 9 or so hours, but the story was good and the graphics were very good. Maybe not as good as everyone expected but above average. People expected alot out of this game and I think it met most expectations. Remember people the more versatile and deep a game gets the shorter it is. Still there are 4 different difficulty levels to play on although you will probably only play hard or normal then you will play extreme. I haven't beat extreme yet but the game was very intense. A very good RPG. If you are expecting to burn 24 or so hours and never see anything new this won't make you happy. But if you like the first and would have bought that one again go ahead you won't be sorry. There were 4 different acts to beat and I thought the story line was very well done. There should be another as they left the door wide open just like the first one. If the next was the same as these two were I would still buy it and smile all the way to my XBox in anticipation. Don't set the bar too high you guys or no one will make you happy - after all it is just a game. Got to get back to the blood and gore - got a vamp to slay -

A Superior Sequel from the Team we Love

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 12
Date: February 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Ah yes those brilliant gods of the video game world have done it again, in this I am referring to "Black Isle studio". The same studio that brought the PC hits "Baldur's Gate", "Baldur's Gate 2", "Diablo", and "Diablo 2" have managed to make a gaming experiance so simple yet so engrossing and entertaining that it would make you forgive almost any short coming this game has, not to mention almost forget how dispointing the first "Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance" was.

"Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2" offers a much deeper experiance this time around by allowing character, which you can select one of five and still unlock hidden chacters like the legendary Drittz, to select multipule side quests instead of the simple one quest that was in the first game. The graphic have been improved slightly but not much. The musical score is dark and brooding which is a perfect fit for the story. The story, now here is one of the real winners, is down right incredible. You will face epic foes from the Forgotten Realms campaign setting such as a Lich, a Red Dragon, a Green Dragon, as well as many many more. For "Dungeons & Dragons" fans this is a real treat, for everone else you most certainly will have some interesting boss fights.

But of all the features this game has the one I keep coming back to again and again is the item creation system. Being able to create +5 great sword of fire is just fun in my book. A fare warning though to the more concervative about this game, as compared to the first, this sequel in much more violent and gruesome. Part of me still wonders how it got away with be rated Teen, especially the level in Bloodmire Manor which was macabre enough to be place in one of the "Resident Evil" games.

In short if you have a x-box and ant a great hack and slash with a good story, and enough RPG to hold you over till "Fable" or "Halo 2" is released than this is definatly you meal ticket.

Finally here!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: February 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

When I first rented Baldur's Gate 1, I stayed up all night with my sister and we destroyed the game, loving every second of it. We beat all the settings, the gauntlet and extreme mode. After that, we were left to wait, wondering if a Baldur's Gate 2 would be coming. Our wait is now over. And it was well worth it.

Gameplay hasn't been changed much from the first one. Its still the go kill every one set up. This time, however, there is a vast quantity of new spells and feats to mess around with. Kromlech (the dwarven fighter from number 1) had, like, two feats he could use. Niether were very effective. On the other hand, Dorn, the massive barbarian, has just as many fighting feats as Ysuarn, the elven necromancer, has spells. Very cool.

The story line by itself is only fair. Its when you know what happened in number one can you fully realize and appreciate what's going on. There is finally some depth in character for our heros, all of them prompting NPC's to say different things if different people talk to them.

The biggest addition to number two is the weapons creation system. The possibilaties are endless. Add six rune stones, four aquamarine stones and four jet rocks and you get the
+5 Mighty Cleaving Axe of Cold Fire. Insanely cool (or hot?).

Yes, there are now five playable characters. A barbarian, necromancer, cleric, rogue and monk. They all have special abilities only they can get, meaning you have to play the game five times through to get full experience. And, if you have a friend to play with, you can fool around with different combinations of characters that will make you adapt to eachothers style of fighting.

The artificial intelligence is way better than it used to be. The archers and spear throwers will actually go to a strategic location, such as raised ground or behind a partially broken wall. Some enemies will attack you in certain formations, making it harder for you to maunuver. There are some old enemies, but alot more new ones.

If you liked the first Baldur's Gate, the second is the same thing, only its on fire going 100 miles per hour through a cave with all manner of monsters jumping out at you. This game is perfect for any fan of the series or hack and slash games in general.

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