Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II (The Review)

Remove all ads!

I will try not to give any spoilers.
Ok, first off, forget everything you knew about the first game. Except remember the three characters from the first. It will figure into the sequel.
If you hated the first game, you won't hate this one.
Let me repeat, YOU WON'T HATE THIS ONE!
Black Isle Studios thankfully took Snowblinds place in developing this sequel which has about 90 levels, across four acts, and a prologue. There are a lot more spell choices for all the characters. You can dual wield and with the right weapons, deliver devistating results. And, an awesome addition, is the ability to add gems and rune stones to weapons to upgrade them. I went from a fine sword that dealt 4-12 in damage to, well, I can't tell you, it wouldn't be fair. But I will say you should have seen the smile on my face when I used my new weapon.
Graphics and sound are incredible. I have honestly never seen a game with better attention to even the small details. It takes into account how water can slow your movement down and you can even get blown off the side of a cliff when there is wind!
The only thing I am disappointed in so far is that fact that in co-op 2 player mode, the gold and experience is shared equally.
So how about replayability? Well I will admit I haven't finished the game yet. But I can tell you that there are quests that are specific for only one character. And you have choices in dialogs that will determine what happens.
Of coure another negative a lot of reviewers have been giving this game is no online ability. But I don't have a decent internet service, so I don't care too much there.
If you liked the first one, I'd say hands down, go and buy this. Heck, even if you didn't, still go buy this one.

 

Read that this is just another hack'n'slash a lâ Dungeon Siege, and to me; it looked like one too.

 

It looks more like a "Diablo 2" than a "Dungeon Seige." But it still looks cool to me. I heard the levels are ramdomly generated - that true?

 

Hmmmm, not sure on the level being regenerated. But I have yet to replay anything. I am using the necromancer character. So far, its pretty fun.
One nice feature I like is the ability to upgrade weapons, armor and such.

 

It does sound like a hack-n-slash for sure, but then with Elios going on and on about it in the chat room ( ), I think I might hire it out, just to see what all the fuss is about, But I'm certainly not buying it.

 

Oh yay! Let's put GEMS on our weapons so then they're magically upgraded for no good reason! That's an original idea for sure, and so damn LOGICAL!

*cough*Diablo*cough*

 

I just love this game!

(Slight spoilers below)

I've been playing the first game over and over (but I'm unable to beat the Sess'sst lizard boss of Chelimber in extreme mode, so I can't get Drizzt yet). This second game is much more complicated - and in more ways resembling the Baldurs Gate pc games, in my opinion. There are more side quests, and they are less linear. We get to travel on the world map, and even the ambushes are there...

I just got it a few days ago, so I've only played the necromancer so far, but he rocks! In spite of being pathetically weak on stats - his strength is hardly enough for him to carry his own leather armour - but with his skeleton as tank and monster magnet, he kicks ass with his multiple flame arrows. Especially when he is up close, so the same monster gets them all in its belly. I also love his upgradable Shield feat, which even works on the skeleton. Very nifty! He almost doesn't need any weapons for melee or ranged - a blocking shield and his spells are enough.

The story is exciting, the quests are exciting, and the graphics are wonderful. Love the way you make ripples in the water when you walk through it...

True, it has a Diablo II likeness in the upgrading of weapons etc. with gems and runestones, but unlike Diablo, the gems can be retrieved when you need them again - and so far (Middle of act II) it seems to be the only way to get any magical items at all. (Except those few in the shop.)

So far, money is the biggest problem in my game. If you want to upgrade weapons, you quickly reach horrendous prices - and since you never find any expensive (magical) items to sell, you have to drag A LOT of loot to the shop before you can afford anything. In addition to that, you may have to buy an overpriced magical item from the shop and then pay to break it down just to get the gem you need. Then, you have to pay for having it placed into your item - this quickly gets VERY expensive, even for the necromancer, who has a feat for lowering the prices...

In addition, some of the heroes have personal quests. So far, I've only played with the necromancer, and his personal quest seems to consist of paying horrible amounts to get a sage to tell him two more sentences about his past for each time. The price doubles each time: 2000, 4000, 8000, 16000 etc. No wonder my hero is broke all the time...

In the first game it was possible to cheat with the money. You could import a character, let him strip down everything he carried, and import back your own character, who could then pick up everything from the ground and wear it/sell it. But in this game, everything on the ground dissappears when you import back your own character.... so now I don't know how to 'cheat' more money.

I really hope we will get a secret bonus hero in this game too - but if anybody knows WHO it will be, please don't tell me. I don't want to be spoiled in advance.

 

Well, you do get a COUPLE unlockable characters! Also, don't worry, in Act III, you get a character specific quest.

 

WOW! Two characters? (I have a hope about the identity of one of them, though...)

Do you know if there are any ways to get (cheat) more money?

Also, I read in the hints on the loading screen, that the necromancer could combine a 'shadow claw' feat with other spells - but this spell isn't listed on his feat sheet. Is this a mistake?

 

Well, I don't want to give any spoilers here. But I will say, just be patient. When you are in chapter three, it will all make sense.
Money cheats? Ok, you have a character. Save the game. Well call this save game A.
Then, go to the change characters menu. Import or start a new character for player 2. Save the game again. We'll call it game B.
now have player 1 drop everything and give to player 2. Save again, overwrite game B.
Now, go to the store, have player two sell everything. DO NOT SAVE YET. Import player two from game B. Sell everything again. Repeat as necessary. Then import player two from game B. Drop everything and give it back to player 1. Go to the change players menu and instead of importing, delete the player 2. Then just continue your game! Game A is just a back up in case you do something wrong.
However, I would seriously recommend playing the game all the way through once without cheating. It is certainly rewarding.
I beleive you said you are playing as the necromancer. He has a feat that can lower the cost to create and break items. Also, when you get a chance, make a ring that can increase your charisma. Put it on right before you go to the store.

Add 0n
Well I've been playing this game for a couple weeks now, both soloing and in co-op with a friend. I know Aikanaro is hoping I change my mind and tell everyone this game sucks, but it doesn't.
The characters are all really fun to play with. The only one I didn't really like was the cleric. In my opinion she wasn't any good until she duel classed in Chapter III.
All the characters can duel class in the third chapter. Some get some incredibly deadly spells, and in the case of the necromancer, he becomes one bad#$@ character!
One of my favorite things so far is when you become idle, the characters have some funny comments. The Monk's is the best when she says that she'll wrap the controller cord around your neck if you don't start playing.
There are five characters you can play with,
Human Cleric of Helm, Dwarf Rogue with a ransakc ability (ransakc a treasure chest for a lot more goodies!), Human Barbarian, Elf Monk, and Elf Necromancer. There are two unlockable characters as well, but I'll leave those as surprises for now.
CErtainly still a much better game than the first one. And I am still playing it, after finishing it twice already. And I still reccomend it!

[ February 23, 2004, 04:07: Message edited by: Elios ]

 

Allright, alittle Diablo 2 inspired with the rune-thing. But so what!? D2 is a cool game.
Also, I DID like BGDA1 and with what I´ve read here there wont be no stopping me now.
2 days to go though


And btw, is it really totally unlogical?
The runes or gems, or whatever they are called, aren´t probably usual gemstones. There are probably some enchantments on them and is it then not logical that your weapon get enchanted?


If you question the fact that they are magical you shouldn´t really play these kind of games...

 

As you believe that, I believe that it will be impossible to debate this one with you - because I thought that D2 was absolute crap

And yes, it is illogical - the game is set in FR - if it was logical it would use the FR way of enchanting items.

[ February 24, 2004, 11:04: Message edited by: Aikanaro ]

 

Well, why debate it?
You´re free to have your opinion, I wont try to change that.
I thinks it´s a good thing that everyone dont like the same things. Would´ve been alot more competition that way...

Since I haven´t played the game yet and dont know exactly how it works I wont be able to discuss the gem enhancement further with you either.
I´ll check back tomorrow after I´ve played the game alittle.

 

What did the necromancer dual class to? As far as I remember, he still had the title necromancer after receiving the new feats in Act III?

 

I won't get into a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOng rant...
I'm NOT a "fast finger gamer" I don't play many games that are not on a PC,, NO Role Play ability. I Liked BG Dark Alliance. Liked it enough to watch for the sequal. While this is no Shadows of Ahm.... (where's Haer Dalis when you need him..?) BUT
I LOVE THIS GAME! a little more Dialog from the PC's and it would rock!
I love the characters, the Skills, the way you can customize skills on your controller!!!

just thought you guy's should Know...!

 

I found this game a whole lot of fun. It suits the console perfectly. It would be better if you could design characters from ground up rather than choose from preset ones, but I have no complaints. Great for a rainy night, have a bunch of mates round, a few beers, and chuck on Dark Alliance II - then smash everything in sight with shoddy light maces. Great fun, with just the right balance. If I wanted to play Baldur's Gate 2, it's on my computer anyway - and it's not very social. Wasn't quite as exhilarating as Unreal Championship, but still kept us up till the wee hours.

 

Okay. Started playing last friday with a barbarian. Got bored.
Started a new game as a Cleric on saturday and 11 hours later the game was completed. Man, this has got to be the most powerful character of them all.
I ran on normal mode, but still, I didn´t even use one healing potion or spell on the last boss.
Anyway...


What level did you get your character to, and what character did you play?
If you´ve played it with more than one character, please tell me what you liked about each.
And also whom you thought was the most powerful.


My Cleric ended on level 31.
I think that having 30 in wisdom helps a little bit eh?

 

Bought a PS2 recently with BGA2. I started with the Cleric and sofar I had some good fun grilling rogues with Flame Strikes.

Note: I got no other games to compare.

 

Tip: Try the necromancer. He becomes very, very powerful, and even the biggest bosses (like the final one) were a piece of cake. Didn't need a single health potion, just a few blue ones.

 

I'm sure I would have gotten sick of the first game if I was playing on my own. With a good friend and plenty of beer, however, it was a kick-ass game!

Sometimes we didn't properly complement eachother though. I'm pleased to see a little more diversity in the characters.