Baldur's Gate 2 The Collection w/Throne of Bhaal Expansion

The side quests are fun and some are very challenging. The landscapes and monsters are well done visually though much less of BGII is dedicated to wilderness adventures unlike BGI.

The main plot has a good story (and would have made a better movie than the one they made) and has interesting characters. The NPCs are characters that can (and will) affect you in several ways (good and bad).

I gave the game 4 stars instead of 5 based on 2 'issues' (unrelated to AI issues with NPCs getting lost) or interface.
1. At a certain point in the game, it becomes 100% linear. You have no more choices of what to do. Coming about halfway through an amazing game, that was disappointing to see).
2. Some encounters, as you become very powerful, become absolutely ridiculous in terms of how many monsters are present.

Overall a very fun game (it should get 4 1/2 stars). Much better than TOEE, Pool of Radiance 2, and Icewind Dale (all of whom are hack, slash, and repeat a naseum). If Bioware made a 3rd game in this vein, it would be very much worth getting based on BG and BGII.

I hesitate to give this game five stars, since there are certainly better games out there (Planescape: Torment, for one). But, when I think back on how much time I devoted to this game and how much I enjoyed every second of it, I realize that games really don't come much better than this.

Highly recommended, particularly if you have a couple hundred hours to kill.

My favorite part of this game is building relationships with the non player characters that travel with you. Not to mention all the various side quests that are in the game. Each character class has different quests that are unique to each. For example the warrior has an opportunity to inherit a keep and protect it from bandits and the wizard can inherit a tower and train apprentice wizards in the magic arts and then have them create magic items for him. Because of these many sidequests this game has much replay value. And that's without the expansion pack. The throne of Bhaal adds another level to the gameplay. I must confess that I still haven't beaten the expansion pack but I have gotten far enough to know there are many plot twists. Another cool addition that wasn't in the first Baldur's gate is the ability for your character to fight with two weapons at the same time.

In conclusion, this game is probably the best thing you could buy if you like old school rpgs. However, be prepared to save often. Like the first Baldur's gate this game is incredibly hard but that makes it all the more satisfying when you finally beat it.