Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition

I played the original Baldur’s Gate many years ago but never got around to starting Baldur’s Gate II. It wasn’t until I completed the massively successful Baldur’s Gate 3—twice—that I felt compelled to go back and finally finish the second game. I was particularly interested in revisiting the storylines and trying to remember (or discover) some of the characters that appear in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Baldur’s Gate II is a very enjoyable experience, but keep in mind that it’s a decades-old game. The graphics, understandably, don’t hold up to modern standards, and the gameplay can take a bit of time to adjust to. That said, the storyline is excellent, and the game offers countless hours of engaging entertainment.

Don’t expect to breeze through all your enemies without effort. You’ll need to pay attention to quest logs, experiment with strategies, and figure out what works (and what doesn’t). The game can be challenging, especially if you’re unfamiliar with D&D mechanics, but there are plenty of excellent guides online to help you along the way. You don’t need to min/max your characters to succeed, but I highly recommend taking a balanced party to handle a variety of challenges.

If you’re a D&D fan and don’t mind playing an older game, Baldur’s Gate II is absolutely worth your time. It’s a classic that still holds up as one of the best RPGs ever made.

I've had this game since inception and I had the OG beamdog launcher version before it crapped out,
do not let the low hours fool you, I've had this game in one shape or another since 2000 in fact I still prefer 1 and 2 over 3.
Not that 3 is bad mind you, just a more personal connection to the character I made.
My favorite RPG of all time, and my second favorite game of all time, next to Mechwarrior 2 being my number 1.

I like that it follows (mostly) 2nd edition rules, which brings back fond memories, and is the main (if not the only) reason I have installed it in the first place in 2024. Unfortunately, it cheats like there is no tomorrow (on normal difficulty), no idea why. Example: Ice Memphis encounter, where the AC of the attacked creature is HIGHER than my main charecter's THACO, and my characters still manages to miss 4 times in a row (later landing a hit every now and then, so it is not immunity, which would be a different thing of course). F**k that, pardon my french. Played 4 hours, noticed a pattern (insane amounts of misses, across the board, even with goblins, ffs), checked the stats, realised I'm taken for a ride, uninstalled. Maybe it is a great game, and an all time classic, but this amount of...hmmm...."inbalance" is not something I want to spend my free time with.

I've been playing this game since purchasing the original back in the 90s. It's hard to say any game I've been playing for 25+ years isn't great, but this is one of my personal favorites. Between playing as different classes, playing solo without a party, making different game choices, and exploring things like romances, this game has tons of replay value. I own it on Steam, Mobile, GOG, and my original version. This version is my favorite and the cloud saves keeps it so I can play when I want to, take a break when I want to, and keep my different games going even on new computers. After 25+ years, I still have things I haven't played but want to, and still discover new things every time I play through.

There's not many games out there that do sequels just as good as their original counter part and there's not many games out there that do it better and improve on the story line, then you have that once in a trillion sequel that comes along that offers the same magical experience as the first one and makes you feel you are playing it for the first time and at every corner, every fight, every dialogue, side quest, every piece of lore you come across, you are "wowed" into the game.

BG2 follows through as if its first masterpiece, as if its 1998 and you are experiencing it all over again the game is absolutely fantastic.

BG2 offers one of the most solid story lines for the genre it follows the D&D rules down to a T and its absolutely fun to play on any difficulty level.
Make sure to save often, saving is King and while doing so, choose different dialogues/actions to change the outcome of not only the game but with your posse also.

The graphics (for the time) are great, the UI is spot on, inventory and items are so easy to figure out and use, assigning hotkeys etc, (every developer needs to learn to make is simple and productive like BG), the game play oozes with fun, its challenging and rewarding, do it wrong and it will hurt you especially on harder levels but hey that's how RPG's should be played, then comes the music, absolutely brilliant, buying the soundtrack is so well worth it, you will find yourself at times just listening to the music and loving it.

BG2 is a must for not only the avid RPG fan but for everyone that appreciates the classics. Get in there and explore and immerse yourself into the world of D&D!

A very dated RPG with a clumsy, sometimes painfully buggy game engine that's more inventory management software than anything else.

It's also still one of the best RPGs I've ever played.

One of the greatest RPGs of all time, even to this day. It set the stage for ALL modern western RPGs that came after. If you played Baldur's Gate 3 and have not played Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 out of respect, you are an embarrassment, don't talk to me.

I liked it less than the first Baldur's gate but I use it to learn languages nowadays because I know the story and can better deduct the meaning of the words without actually searching in a dictionnary.
The best tool to learn... I upgraded my German and Italian with his Game and probably going to use it for Russian next,

This is a tentative recommend. Mostly for the same reasons I tentatively recommended BG1.

This is an old game.
There are many things which a modern player might find difficult and even more they might find unacceptable. So if you are not into retro games probably best to give this a miss.

The good
The story is great.
Hearing David Warner's voice acting is chef's kiss.
You can skip all the splash screens and intro videos.
There is a quit to desktop option in the in game menu.

The not good.
Active pause is a terrible mechanic. You really need to love micro.
The RTS style controls often made me want to uninstall the game.
The AD&D SE rule set is really really bad.

There is a charming nostalgia to playing this and if you can persevere through all the frustration with early 2000's PC gaming there is a lot of fun to be had.
If you have no nostalgia for this series or retro games then I do not think you will enjoy this.

Might be one of the best RPGs of its time. But certainly does not match up to DOS or DOS II imho.

Still much better than pillars of eternity. A low bar I know.

Playing the extended edition some 20 years after my first time around with BGII. So much has changed in video games in the interim, but it still delivers a compelling experience.

A great classic, I remember playing this as a kid. It was so formative an ground breaking at the time. The Enhanced addition def adds some much needed quality of life updates. I never was able to finish it back in the day, here's hoping I find the time to be able to finish it now.

A perfect sequel with an even more intricate plot, great twists, and an awesome cast of characters.

As a lifelong D&D fan, it's always a joy revisiting Faerûn. It's also impressive how solid these old games were—they still hold up even 20 years later and keep you hooked. The outdated graphics don’t matter because the storyline and gameplay shine.

An engaging adventure topped off with a fantastic soundtrack.

Just make 1 character, recruit no companions, and solo the game. It's the most fun way to play it B)

baldur's gate II is my favorite all-time rpg. the enhanced edition, incredibly, has made it even better.

Awesome Story! Better graphics than Crysis. Gives me 2000s nostalgia. yeeeah

There's some jank and outdated mechanics in the game since it's so old but the writing I felt was absolutely superb. It's an epic adventure from tortured prisoner to godhood in the high fantasy world of the forgotten realms. Every location was done with a themes and tone in mind. Every party character is unique and interesting with their own background and development. I also loved the romance and the music that plays during those dialogue moments that I saved it as my ringtone.

This game is an absolute masterpiece! The additions from the enhanced edition are pretty good too. Definitely worth picking up if you've never played this.

Aged and not as visually appealing but still one of the, if not the best DND style role playing game out there.

Playing this reminded me of playing D&D with friends when I was kid back in the 80's & early 90's. Very addictive!

I've written fairly comprehensive reviews of BG1 and Siege of Dragonspear, and most of these points apply to this game, as well.

BG1 Review: https://steamcommunity.com/id/s-gorman/recommended/228280?snr=1_5_9__402
SoD Review: https://steamcommunity.com/id/s-gorman/recommended/385970?snr=1_5_9__402

This game brings the adventure of Gorion's Ward to it's grand finale. Your character saves can be brought across either directly from BG1, from SoD, or you can create a new character and start the game as a standalone.

The story is good in this, if not quite as compelling as the first game (in my honest opinion.) I still very much like the storyline of BG2, but BG1 holds a special place in my heart from the amount of times I've played the original game through. There are loads of interesting new characters, and some old friends have been changed dramatically following the events of the first game, which really adds a layer of depth to their character arcs.

All in all, another fantastic game, which sees your once pitiful character amass grand power, and hold the fate of the realm in their hands.

A damn good time. A game that not only holds up decades later, but is still an exemplary example of what CRPGs can be.
Companions actually have personalities and conversations now! I was taken aback when I heard the party banter after the silence of BG1. Well written and iconic, they're characters that make the whole experience better.

My only qualms are to do with the mechanics of AD&D. Gaining high levels feels very unrewarding, but it is what it is.

Buy with no hesitation.

Took me forever and numerous tries to get into this game, but it was worth it in the end. Great game, great story, loved travelling around taking on quests and discovering things. Though the graphics are old, they still managed to capture a great atmosphere and aesthetic in the game. The thing I hate most about this game is the combat and that aspect is what made it so hard to get into. Some people really enjoy it, but it has never really been for me. This is especially an issue in the Throne of Bhaal where you are pretty much fighting hordes all the time and being given little additional story, so I ended up breezing through that. As a whole though, i really liked it and highly recommend. There is clearly a great deal of content if you want to spend hundreds of hours running around to see things.

This is the best RPG ever made and what could I say ? nostalgia, good writing, best NPCs with some quite funny lines ( Jan Jansen I love you lol )
If you are a new player, just be strong and get over the graphics, the game is immense and good !

Despite the poor pathfinding algorithm problem and old-fashioned display, it's an engaging game.

Baldur's Gate II is an good dark fantasy RPG that stays true to the spirit of Dungeons & Dragons. Even today, it offers an immensely enjoyable experience thanks to its deep storytelling, rich character interactions, and complex quests. The game stands out with its lack of modern conveniences like map markers and hand-holding hints, pushing players to explore, think critically, and make impactful choices.

Good game but doesn't quite hold up as well as the first did.

The beginning is overwhelming with the amount of events that take place and stuff to do be done rather than starting you off in a focused direction which gradually branches out and is fun right from the beginning to the end. In this you're thrown into this massive city off the bat with tons of people to speak to, quests to collect, conflicts to resolve etc, which detracts heavily from the pacing of the first. Also the main quest is extremely linear and has a habit of getting you locked into these very long chapters. The pathing is also somehow way worse than first game's too and outright frustrating at times.

The game has a ton of dialogue and it's not very good for the most part, party members never seem to shut up with their constant inane attempts at humour or boring you with their feelings, worries and emotional dribble, they really overdid it I feel.

With all that out way, it's still a very fun and endearing game once it gets going, the dungeons are neat and the encounters are challenging - requiring you to use every spell/tool at your disposal to progress past them and also it's damn beautiful to look at, the art, audio and atmosphere are incredible and definitely a major highlight of the overall experience.

It's not all just flashier production. Since BioWare was developing both a game and engine with BG1, they had time to pour into only the game itself this time. It's great. Your companions are given roles worth paying attention to, where their every personal quest carries the momentum of adventure that the main questline does. The maps are ripe for exploration, with supporting characters who never have interchangeable personalities, instead each one offering a bit of new lore and nuance to the atmosphere of the world they inhabit. Every sidequest given by them is its own dark fantasy short story for you to explore the world through. There's a surprising lack of filler here.

The villain is so much more compelling, not just for his expanded gravitas through his performance compared to Sarevok, but because the why of his motivations is more on focus throughout rather than the what of their actions (which is the same reason why he's better than the TOB expansion villain). Their connection to you becomes much more personal as a result, giving you room to influence what makes you who you are in the process. Each encounter with them and their lackeys is so rich in personality, informed by their history with you and others. Not to mention the supporting villains being basically a complete coming together of classic D&D encounters, and most of them being possible to understand in their motivations, if not come to an understanding.

The combat is a more complicated side. Thankfully it's spaced out with more dialogue to run through, as you rarely begin a questline fight without proper buildup in the tension between parties. But I'm still not convinced of the RTWP aspect, and probably never will be. I can admit the flexibility it allows in your approach, but the look and feel of it just doesn't create tension. As soon as you unpause, things become a blur of sprites that you pause again to micromanage according to the text box, which often needs manual tweaking mid-way due to how weird the pathfinding for the AI can get. This doesn't help the case of the TOB expansion/sequel, which is mostly a series of "go kill this" quests. I wouldn't be so bothered if the companions were given more screentime here, or the ultimate villain wasn't so boring in their predictability, or there was simply more room to go wrong with your choices, and yet.

Sometimes it felt like those issues were going to kill the momentum eventually, being they last throughout the game. Ultimately, though, nothing can. All of it is held together by a core tale of challenged fate. Its a story of being swept away by the winds of consequence, holding on by the skin of your teeth. Your main character must answer for their bloodshed. Its world is in the endtimes. Every corner of it will open up to your eyes as it all unfolds, challenging your morality at each turn of the wheel. Its prophecies have been spoken long since. What remains of them is now in motion. The chaos is inevitable, but exploitable. You're at the center of it, and nothing can dampen the excitement of being in the eye of the storm.

8/10

Its a classic game (read bad graphics) but the story and flexibility make up for it.

I've been playing this game since release in 2000. Started playing it with my dad and we played for ages until he passed 5 years ago. This game is amazing and will always remind of my old man. The story telling is great. The DnD base it provides translates so well to even current editions. This game is worth the 3000+ hours and even more.

Epic sequel adventure that lead to a lot of endless hours of playing through with different styles of play. Doesn't have as epic of a story as BG3, but I still love the rule set from this period and prior.

Does have a few annoying bugs but nothing to bad and if needed there is some command prompt entries to fix them such as party AI issues and a 3rd party program you can use to fix or get around some of them other ones. But I rarely run into anything but the AI issue that occurs after importing your party from BG1.

This quiet little game is like, really strange and stuff, but it's the type that I probably wouldn't have even noticed if it wasn't for the ads and the first entry. In retrospective, it probably would have blended okay enough with other generic RPG's in the market. Only once you compare it to other RPG's like Greedfall, Deus Ex, Wasteland 3 or even Persona 2 for example, does BG:II stand out in a particularly odd way.

It's also annoying, for the game does so in a way that makes it highly inconvenient for gamers to pinpoint on how it happens and why, and this effect is achieved naturally by default, meaning you are exposed to BG:II's effects whether you want to or not. You then have the choice to either deny BG:II's existence and spend the rest of your life attempting to disprove it as a highly elaborate CIA psyop, or accept it as a real game. Either way BG:II is always there, always.

I realize I sound cryptic and confusing, but I can't just be direct about these things. It should be common sense really, IT SHOULD BE... like when you close the window when it's too windy outside, or when you hold the elevator for someone, or when you follow any of the rules of our human society as it is mandated by its constituents and the established cultural norms. What does it have to do with BG:II? Good question.

It's not so much what BG:II does, but what it doesn't. Say if your Canadian neighbor(s) just never pays gas money or files taxes, and otherwise is a seemingly normal and stable person that you may even get along with sometimes. But there's always a gnawing sensation that something is deeply wrong. You say hi to them in the morning and afternoon, you shake their hand, you even have tea and biscuits in their house. They have a cat and everything seems to be in order as you make small talk and discuss your daily ventures.

The topic then inevitably shifts to taxation and gas money, and that's when you begin to feel that pit in your stomach, the churning sensation of some deep cosmic horror looming in the dark. You want to get up, you want to run for the door and call the IRS. You want to piss on their automobile to make a stance that it's just not fair.

But you can't, as your neighbor brings out yet ANOTHER batch of delicious homemade oatmeal biscuits and some lemon juice, furthermore their cat is cuddly and snuggles up in your lap for a moment. You simply can't do anything here. Who will believe you anyway? What will you tell them? Can you prove any of this? Hypothetically, if the whole city thought the same, what difference would it make? These questions go through your mind on repeat as anxiety ramps up to a point you're nearly having a full-blown panic attack.

You come up with some lame excuse for leaving. "Yeah so like... Trump just won the election and I don't feel so good... see ya later" - you utter under your breath like a child caught red-handed trying to steal from the cookie jar. Your face is swollen with injured pride and your legs barely serve to bring you to the front door as you try to forget any of this happened. It was just a "dream" you tell yourself, "I was sleeping, or maybe my neighbor was sleeping! AH!", "or maybe... they are AUTISTIC!" - you come up with a series of highly elaborate excuses for what you just witnessed, none satisfying enough to ease the existential dread that is forever burned in your memory. A part of you is aware that you have stepped over the permissible boundaries of conventional reality, you walked out of the "allowed area" in which humanity gets to play in, and crossed the border to another place, a darker place where reality does not obey your own.

As you make your way home, the bittersweet taste of sour lemon and oatmeal lingers in your teeth and gums. You fall on your bed, exhausted and confused. As you turn on the television, there's some crap about Donald Trump being the 47th President of the USA.

"What a strange world we live in!" you think to yourself before falling asleep.

Old school isomorphic, and the graphics have not dated well but still fun to play!

Baldur's Gate II is a classic and a masterpiece. Any enthusiast of party-based RPGs owes it to themselves to play it.

Only bought it because i was too poor to buy BG3..

Needless to say.. its boring.

This is not a perfect RPG, but it still better than Baldur's Gate III much more.

Amazing story, good mechanics, on a slightly dated graphics engine. Worth a play or replay.

Play this, yes, play this if you are coming back from Baldur's Gate 3. Skip one, play this. Two things I have to tell you, having never played BG2 before EE. For one, The levels are much fairer in baldur's gate 2, this game feels better than 1. Having your first High Level Abilities is amazing and all. The second is a terrible bug I want to catalog. You may trigger a save-corrupting dialogue box error in only Throne of Bhaal, the expansion, and only in multiplayer. I googled the hell out of this and there is barely a fix. The game is swell otherwise and a total trip for someone who is seeing old references and jokes that games like World of Warcraft will later imitate. But man I am so disappointed to redo all of chapter 8 and now have to be wary for a potential dialog issue. Oh, we think the issue is from an NPC being stuck as approaching us for conversation and then being stuck trying to talk.

Although I like the first game better, this one is still very good. The quests and character interactions are elaborate and entertaining.
While the ToSC of BG1 was nice, only the base BG2 is good - ToB is just dumb fighting and "Go and kill" storry.

Would not recommend. LGBT+ messages have been added on top, with no relation or purpose to the story. The original game was a masterpiece of storytelling, this is a derivative work, violating the original game in order to further an extreme leftist agenda, like so many modern games. Let's hope the gaming industry manages to purge these subversive elements that seek only to destroy what others have created.

This is a classic. I'd probably hate it if I didn't grow up playing it.

- Investigate a murderer!
- Find his house
- Murderer in house
- Find out he killed in self defense
- Turns out he has a complex family legacy revolving around powerful magic
- Use his blood to open a door into a giant ball in the middle of the city that is fused with the buildings a la sci fi
- Get locked inside the ball
- Turns out ball is a giant space ship that travels to different dimensions
- The ball ship goes through the floor into the depths of hell while you're in it
- Build a golem to open the door into the inner control room
- Find murderer's dad
- Beat him down, then find out he was corrupted by evil energy
- He tells you that in order to get back home you need a demon heart to refuel the engine
- Enter hell's abyss itself and kill a demon, take its heart
- Go back to the ball ship and put demon heart into the engine
- Now the ball ship has power, so talk to the murderer's dad and fly back to the normal world
- Escape, and choose whether or not you want to allow murderer's dad to see the light of day after being trapped in the ball for 500 years
- Dad dies, you escape.

That is one side quest. One single side quest.

Does a great job in capturing the feel of D&D. Mechanics are smooth, fights are well structured with multiple solutions and working with a team means tons of variety in game play with the various characters available.

The best roleplaying game of all time, a classic and an absolute masterpiece.

Gather your party and venture forth on the adventure of a lifetime.

It's the sequel to the OG. It's surprisingly better in every way.

I played this on CD-ROM back in the day. Still a great game. Because it was never really about insane graphics or twitch gameplay it aged really well.

Of course I recommend this game. I did when it came out the first time. Great game limited by limits of it's time but groundbreaking non the less.

One of the first RPGs that really opened my eyes and peak Bioware.

Still a great story and fun game after so many years!

If you like the original Baldur's Gate then this is very much more of the same. I really enjoyed it, especially the fact you can import your character from Baldur's Gate 1 and continue their story in this one. The Voice acting is great and the overall aesthetics are top tier.

I will play this one again.

One of the very best RPG games in the history of the world. However, Steam doesn't want me to own the trading cards, so this game is poor quality. I am just as fair as Steam is.