I didn't like Baldur's Gate. Heresy, I know, but while other RPG lovers were inventing new adjectives to help describe the paroxysms of delight they went into every time another kobold bit the dust, I was struggling to finish my explorations along the Sword Coast. As certain friends of mine who shall remain nameless were squaring off with Sarevok for the third time, I was stuck back in Gullykin, trying to fight off the yawns as I cleared square after square of dense, dull forest. Twice I installed the game. Twice I gave up, never much more than halfway to the conclusion.
So I didn't have high hopes for Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. Can you blame me? As development house Bioware sold a bajillion copies of the first title, I was pretty sure that there weren't going to be too many changes made to the original formula. And I was right. The same basics are still in play, right down to the underwear that prevents that nasty chain mail chafe. Beyond that, though, everything is different. Subtle tweaks to practically every aspect of the game—from the development of the storyline to the escalation of the stakes and abilities of the heroes and villains—have helped to fashion an experience that is much more rewarding (and much less sleep-inducing) than any Dungeons and Dragons title since Eye of the Beholder II.
The plot picks up not long after the death of Sarevok, an evil creature of demi-godlike powers who revealed at the close of the original game that he was your brother. If that wasn't enough to gnarl the roots of the family tree, he also informed you that your father was Bhall, the God of Murder. Yikes. It's not a nasty divorce and three rugrats at home, but you might want to wait until the second or third date before letting that cat out of the bag. Anyhow, the lead character's friends were apparently too noble to abandon him despite dear old dad's line of work. Too bad for them. As Baldur's Gate II opens, both he and a few of his boon companions are prisoners of an evil mage named Jon Irenicus. No one remembers much of what happened aside from vague memories of knives and hideous experiments. Plucky little Thief/Mage Imoen springs you from a metal cell, you in turn free city-loving Jaheira the Druid and space hamster-loving Minsc the Ranger, and then set off to find out just what the hell happened to you.