Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II
Developer(s)	Black Isle Studios, Interplay Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Interplay Entertainment
Distributor(s)	Vivendi Games
Series	Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
Engine	Dark Alliance Engine
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, Xbox
Release date(s)	January 20, 2004
Genre(s)	Role-playing video game
Mode(s)	single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: T
Media/distribution	DVD

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II is an action role-playing game released for the PlayStation 2 on December 2, 2003 (US) and the Xbox on January 20, 2004 (US). It is the sequel to Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and was developed by Black Isle Studios, its gameplay is based on the 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons, and is set in the Forgotten Realms fantasy setting.

Development

In March 2003, Interplay announced that they were working on Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II for the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox, the game was reported to introduce item crafting to the series and have five playble characters. At 2003's Electronic Entertainment Expo Interplay showcased the game and revealed three playable characters : a human barbarian, a moon elf necromancer and a drow monk. Interplay stated that if the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions sold well, they would port the game to Gamecube.

In September 2003, Interplay announced that it had canceled its deal with Vivendi Universal to be the publisher of its games, due to alleged breaches of the working agreement, failure of payment, and was considering legal action. In October Interplay announced that they planned to distribute Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel themselves. EB Games and Gamestop websites then put the game up for a January 2004 release date instead of 2003, Interplay, however, denied these rumors at first, stating it was aiming for a fourth quarter release. In November 2003 Interplay announced that it had resolved its legal dispute with Vivendi Universal, and had returned to the prior publishing agreements. In November 2003 Interplay released new screenshots for Dark Alliance II, and announced that Dark Alliance II would not be released until 2004. A company financial report published in late 2003 suggested that the game (as well as Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel) may be release in January 2004 in some regions.

In December 2003, Interplay shut down Dark Alliance II developer, Black Isle Studios. The game was released in January, 2004.

Story, setting and characters

Characters

The new playable characters are Dorn Redbear, Ysuran Aundril, Borador Goldhand, Vhaidra Uoswiir, Allessia Faithhammer, Drizzt Do'Urden and Artemis Entreri.

Dorn is a human barbarian that comes to Baldur's Gate seeking glory like his idol, former companion and the man he rescues, Vahn. Ysuran is a necromancer who comes to Baldur's Gate in search of his memory as he is an amnesic that knows only his magic and his name. Borador is a Dwarf that comes to Baldur's Gate for money and fame in order to release his clan from its debt to elves. Vhaidra is a Drow that comes to Baldur's Gate, fleeing the destruction of her house she looks for vengeance against those who destroyed it. Allessia Faithhammer is a cleric who comes to Baldur's Gate in the name of Helm, she comes to spread the word of Helm and become a high-ranking priest. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II also features the brief appearance of the three original characters from Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance: Vahn, Kromlech and Adrianna; they are not playable and can only be seen.

Drizzt Do'Urden returns from the previous game as an unlockable character that can be played as after completing the game, Artemis Entreri, Drizzt's arch-enemy, is also an unlockable playable character.

Setting

While the original game focussed on many areas scattered throughout the Sword Coast and Western Heartlands, the second game is moreover based in the Sword Coast in the Baldur's Gate region. Many areas in the Baldur's Gate Region are explored, including Cloak Wood, Trollbark Forest, The Wood of Sharp Teeth and Wayfork Village. Unlike the previous game, many more areas of Baldur's Gate are accessible, the sewers also return as an explorable region. However, the player only goes through one level of the sewers. While the Elfsong Tavern can be seen, it is not accessible, instead the player is able to go to the Purple Wyrm Tavern and Inn instead. The Old Warehouse, the Firewind Manor, Omduil's Manor, the Church of Helm and Bloodmire Manor are other explorable areas within Baldur's Gate. The High Moor, Skull Gorge and the Battle of Bones are also accessible areas in the game. The Keep of Pale Knight is ventured through near the Battle of Bones. The Elemental Planes are also areas that are accessible, in the Elemental Plane of Shadow the players fight Mordoc SeLanmere. The Sunset Mountains and the Marsh of Chelimber, the two other areas of the first game, are only mentioned and not actually seen.

Story

Dorn Redbear, Vhaidra Uoswirr, Allessia Faithhammer, Ysuran Auondril and Borador Goblinbreaker "Goldhand" each meet up and form a dark alliance on the Trade Way. Vhaidra flees from those who wish all of House Uoswirr dead, Dorn journey's to Baldur's Gate for honour, Allessia to assist the Church of Helm, Ysuran to reclaim his memory and Borador to reclaim the Goblinbreaker name. In the meantime, Borador uses moniker Goldhand. Upon meeting on the Trade Way they realize that ever since the collapse of Xantam's Guild, the Trade Way has become increasingly dangerous due to the rise of the Red Fang Marauders, a goblin army. They infiltrate the Red Fang Marauders Cave and free the caravan guard Randalla, they then go to Wayfork Village, a nearby fiefdom. They rescue the village from being sacked by the marauders and kill their hobgoblin leader, Harnak the Butcher.

Upon entering Baldur's Gate all five need money, so Randalla hires them to investigate rash murders, which they trace to Bloodmire Manor. At Bloodmire, they learn that Luvia Bloodmire has been mutilating body parts of several creatures to make new species. She has been giving these to Lady Aragozia Firewind. Also, her first creation, Argesh, has set up the Hands of Glory, a thieves guild faction of the Red Fang Marauders in Baldur's Gate. For more money, the five kill Argesh and end the Hands of Glory, they also find the main base of the Red Fang Marauders.

Upon infiltrating the Red Fang Marauders, they defeat the Red Queen, the new leader of the marauders. They then learn that the Queen actually pays respects to Lady Aragozia, a member of the Zhentarim using the marauders to try and bring back the Onyx Tower. Along with her associate Karne, who never actually died, Firewind escapes the heroes and transforms into the Red Dragon Aizagora. Seeing the effort of the heroes, who still do not have enough money to accomplish their goals, they are inducted into the Harpers by Jherek. At first Jherek requests of them to get elemental objects, however, the Zhentarim try to get to the objects first, after getting these objects the heroes finally have enough money to finish their own personal quest.

After killing the dragon Baragoth, the druid inside of Dorn is awakened. Vhaidra travels to Cloud Peaks and gets her revenge on a murderous black elf who assisted in the fall of House Uoswiir. Borador frees Gandam's Hold and reclaims the Goblinbreaker name for his clan who begin working on new forges to free themselves from their debt to fey folk. Allessia frees the Church of Helm in Baldur's Gate from Goreth Vileback, a Cleric of Cyric who attempts to destroy Helm. Ysuran realizes his horrid past and his hate crimes against humans, he decides that he will not worry about the past and build a good name for himself in for the future.

After the five return to town, Jherek enlists the five adventurers once again, surprising they accept, for a journey to the elemental planes to activate the elemental foundations. Each time they are attacked the Zhentarim who are now in control of the foundations and it appears that they no longer wish for the tower to be activated. The heroes activate all of the foundations and return to Baldur's Gate.

At a small forest on the outside of the Battle of Bones, Vahn, Kromlech and Adrianna turn up from the shadow gate where they are kidnapped by the vampire king Mordoc SeLanmere. Mordoc brags about bringing the Onyx Tower back, becoming its new user and how the downfall of Baldur's Gate will please his allies in the East. Mordoc's steward, the vampire Xanhast interrogates the three and requests Mordoc to be allowed to kill them. Mordoc then learns that the Zhentarim and Harpers squabbles have given him the Onyx Tower. Karne, however, learns of Mordoc's plan and alerts Jherek, who along with the five adventurers storm the Keep of Pale Night and force Mordoc to relocate the Onyx Tower to Baldur's Gate.

Baldur's Gate, now called Mordoc's Gate, has its entire population turned into zombies. After rescuing Vahn, Kromlech and Adrianna, all together the ten unlikely allies join forces and attack the Onyx Tower. Xanhast seduces Randalla and makes her a vampire that protects the new entrance on the Onyx Tower, created by Mordoc for some reason. After defeating both Randalla and Xanhast, they all attack Mordoc and manage to kill him. They then destroy the Onyx Heart, supposedly destroying the Onyx Tower for good.

There was supposed to be a connection between Dark Alliance II and Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound.^{[citation needed]} The connection was made through terms of location but due to the fact that the game was never released, if it was also going to be made through story was never revealed.

Gameplay

The game is a hack and slash Action role-playing game, playable in single player, and shared screen multiplayer modes.

Character statistics at the game's beginning are preset, and the player may only customize his or her character's statistics through gaining experience points. Experience points are gained by winning battles, and at specific levels the character gains new ability points to spend on enhancements specific to the character class. The ability choices affect the fighting style of the character. After completing their own unique sidequest, each character in the game, minus the two unlockables, will level up into a prestige class.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II gave players the ability to create custom weapons, armor, rings, and necklaces through the shopkeeper. Players could increase these items by +1 to +5 (or +15 in extreme, but this can only be done with necklaces, rings, and boots) using runestones, which were needed for all customizations and increased the item's power. A player could also use gems to add special effects to the items. Two different types of gems, in addition to the required runestones, could be used on one item. There are several different kinds of gemstones and have a different effect on different types of items such as armour/ weapons.

The game gives the player the ability of using companions, however it is required and not optional. The characters Karne and Jherek fight alongside the player character in the fight against Mordoc SeLanmere. These companions can not level up or gain any abilities due to the small time they were with the player. There are also a number of characters that help the enemy fight zombies at the end in the city of Baldur's Gate, but these are not regarded companions as they are even less intractable than Karne and Jherek as they do not follow the player around.

Unlike the first game, in which Baldur's Gate was a location that was only featured during one act, the city of Baldur's Gate appears in all but the prologue act. It acts as a hub city and few quests take place in the city, but are rather commissioned from the city and it is from Baldur's Gate that the adventure's travel to and fro their adventures. The city also allows access to a world map from which players can go to various locations and participate in sidequests. This thus makes the game semi open-world.

The game's ruleset is based on a limited set of 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons rule-set, it includes many more features from the ruleset that the original, such as the implementation of sidequests, a world map and item creation, companions and more enemies from the monster manual.

Critical reception

The game received positive reviews; Metacritic has an average score of 77% based on 44 reviews for the Xbox version and the PlayStation 2 version received an average score of 78% based on 44 reviews.

GameSpot reviewed the PlayStation 2 version of the game and scored it an 8.0 out of 10. IGN reviewed the Xbox version of the game and scored it an 8.4 out of 10.

See also

• Baldur's Gate series