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Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal
Released On: Jun 21, 2001
88
8.5
All Platforms
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 14 Critic Reviews
88
93% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
7% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 14 Critic Reviews
88
93% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
7% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Full of adventure, action, intrigue and suspense. You will be required to use your brain, and your strategic fighting skills to survive the course before you. But it is quite an amazing and enjoyable venture.
A fitting completion to the Baldur's Gate "trilogy," but was slightly disappointing to this reviewer due to the shorter amount of playing time available for the main game itself (around 25-30 hours).
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 368 User Ratings
8.5
85% Positive
314 Ratings
314 Ratings
6% Mixed
21 Ratings
21 Ratings
9% Negative
33 Ratings
33 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 368 User Ratings
8.5
85% Positive
314 Ratings
314 Ratings
6% Mixed
21 Ratings
21 Ratings
9% Negative
33 Ratings
33 Ratings
The conclusion to the Baldurs Gate saga. It was planned as Baldurs Gate 3 but was cut short to an (still really big) add on. There is a lot of content and the most important thing is that it gives a truly satisfying conclusion. After Mass Effect 3 this is something that must be mentioned for Bioware games even if no game from Bioware before that struggled in this regard. The story continues a short time after the events of Baldurs Gate 2 in Suldannessalar as 5 powerful Bhaalspawn are killing all others bringing chaos, war and misery to the lands. Your playercharacter which you can import from Baldurs Gate 2 or create is going to a holy place of the elves to get answers from an oracle. Here the story starts. It is an epic conclusion as the whole world holds it breath to wait for the results and even the gods were watching the events without interference with mayor interest. The story has its great moments but you see that it was cut a bit short in some areas. Sounds maybe too negative as I fully enjoyed it. There will be huge revelations and open questions will be answered during the game. I like that you import also your decisions as romances and arcs for your partymebers are continued. The strength of all Baldurs Gate games are the excellent characters and you have the full rooster of Baldurs Gate 2 available except one certain character and the addition of one new character I wont spoil. These single new character was an amazing and bold choice that improved the game if you want or even dare to recruit him (To good to not do it gameplay and roleplaywise for me;-).. Again your party members will comment on actions or have conversations with each other. There might be even some changing events for some;-). There are some new NPC characters that I enjoyed and you can even meet Volo. It adds also the Watchers Keep which is a large remarkable Dungeon full of puzzles, fights, decisions and opportunities that can be accessed even as early as in Baldurs Gate 2 if you start a new playtrough. It has an interesting storyline and is challenging, I should also mention that you can upgrade weapons and armor from Baldurs Gate 2 if you get certain items. Gameplaywise there are some additions like legendary abilities. Most of them are truly awesome with some exceptions. For example: The thief's ability to wear all equipment is game-breaking as it overrides even class restrictions. A Thief / Kensai or Thief / Mage combination is truly terrifying with this. There are also some new spells, a few updates and a higher level cap. I must say it is a huge add on as it took me a while to finish it (Like I already mentioned it was planned as full game). The new antagonists work well but I think they could be a bit more fleshed out. Overall this is an epic conclusion that left me satisfied. The meaningful endings are a great closure to the saga and I still remember the epilogues for my character and patrymembers. From all videogames the Baldurs Gate games have my favorite cast of memorable characters. They were immersive and I cared a lot for them. I could never abandon for example Imoen in Baldurs Gate 2, I just always pick Edwin for the Edwina part and have fond memories of the other character. Simply a prime example how to make a good saga with a satisfying conclusion.
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PC
Add in an epic conclusion to a huge story, new features, and perfect presentation and you get one of the best role-playing experiences that you can ask for.
This isn't some short, slapped-together final chapter, but a full-fledged game of its own. Clocking in at around 40 to 50 hours, Throne Of Bhaal is easily longer than most other stand-alone RPGs.
In some ways it's even superior to Baldur's Gate II. It's filled with high adventure, epic battles, and plenty of surprises, and it's got a good cast, a good story, and more of all the elements that have made the series successful.
Another great addition to the series. It's a little more geared towards the magic-lover.
This was a very pleasant surprise for me. I belong to the minority, who liked the original Baldur’s Gate better than its sequel, Shadows of Amn (which still is one of the best role-playing games ever made). This had lowered down my expectations for the expansion of the second game. I am glad I was wrong…
Where I found Shadows of Amn lacking, Throne of Bhaal shines. Firstly, it is a very focused game. The linearity, however, is its strength. Combined with one of the best stories ever written for any video game (better than the previous Baldur’s Gate titles and maybe only surpassed by Planescape: Torment), Throne of Bhaal takes you to an epic journey.
What is a bit odd is that as an expansion, the game provides more story and gives more character progression than both Baldur’s Gate I & II. It masterfully wraps up the story and concludes the Baldur’s Gate Saga. Moreover, it introduces the antagonist of Shadows of Amn as a playable NPC and a massive dungeon, Watcher’s Keep, to level up your characters to extremely high levels for a D&D world.
With its 50+ hours of gameplay and the epic conclusion to the Baldur’s Gate Trilogy, this could easily be called Baldur’s Gate III by today’s standards. But the year the game was released was different times and the standard of respect to gamers was so much higher, this giant of an RPG -and one of the best of the genre- was only considered “an expansion”.
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PC
like the addon for BG1 this addon is great and improves the gaming experience, although Baldurs Gate is already great. The fights are perfect and there a are a lot of good story ideas to make the fights interesting: whether to understand the combat mechanics or the story. Watchers Keep is a first class dungeon and the story about the bhal spawns is epic and great. There is only 1 problem, that became more obvious than in Shadow of Amn: The controlling is bad and you have not enough overview, what is going on in the combat. 10/10.
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PC
This is a good conclusion to the series, but only good.
Compared to the other part of the "trilogy" throne of Bhaal is like a boss rush expansion for the base game. Sure, there are some epic fights with demigods to finally end the chaos in Faerun, but you are fighting one of them after another with a little story between the encounters.
The problem is, that the combat mechanics are not that good to not make it tiring in the end.
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PC
Too much combat, linearity and not enough exploration, the pacing has gotten worse for the expansion pack. The ending, and story itself, are great though and bring a much needed conclusion to the fate of the children of bhaal, and the new dungeon, shrouded in mystery, Watcher's Keep, is one of the greatest addition to the franchise, much like Durlag's Tower for Baldur's Gate 1.
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PC
Summary The final chapter of the wildly popular Baldur's Gate series, technically and add-on pack to "Shadows of Amn" but which plays like a true sequel, opens after the conclusion of "Shadows" at the outbreak of a major Bhaalspawn war and throws you into a new adventure called the Watcher's Keep.
Rated T
for Teen
Platforms:
- PC
Initial Release Date: Jun 21, 2001
Developer:
- BioWare
Publisher: Interplay
Genres:
