Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II
Studio	Black Isle Studios
Publisher	Interplay Entertainment Acclaim Entertainment (EU)
Senior Developer	David Maldonaldo
Erstveröffent- lichung	February 6, 2004
platform	PS2 , Xbox
Game engine	Dark Alliance engine
genre	Action RPG , Hack'n'Slay
Subject	D&D , fantasy
Game mode	Single player , multiplayer
control	Gamepad
medium	1 DVD
language	Multilingual
Age rating	USK PEGI

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 is the direct sequel to the action role-playing game Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance . It was developed by Black Isle Studios , the role-playing division of the American publisher Interplay Entertainment . It was released on February 6, 2004 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox .

action

The game follows on from its predecessor. The onyx tower is destroyed by the death of Eldrith. The three hero characters escape the collapsing structure, but are arrested by Mordoc SeLanmere, a powerful vampire and ally of Eldrith. This in turn pursues the plan to rebuild the onyx tower and thus to expand his power. A group of five new heroes reaches the town of Baldur's Gate and from there, on behalf of the harper's secret society, goes on the trail of SeLanmeres in order to ultimately prevent him from carrying out his plans.

As with the predecessor, the second part of the story also assumes a common mission for all hero characters, although the player only controls one character.

Gameplay

Like its predecessor, Dark Alliance 2 is a Diablo- style action role-playing game . At the beginning of the game, the player chooses his main character from five new, given characters: the human barbarian Dorn Redbear, the necromancer Ysuran Aundril, the dwarf Borador Goldhand, the female drow monk Vhaidra Uoswiir and the cleric of the helmet Alessia Faithhammer. Drizzt Do'Urden and Artemis Entreri, known from the predecessor, are available as bonus characters after successfully completing the game. In contrast to the underlying D&D set of rules, the character generation runs within narrow limits.

The player controls his only character directly with the help of the gamepad from an overview perspective, with a freely rotatable camera that can be zoomed in in three stages. The battle is played out in real time. By solving tasks and killing opponents, the player collects experience points, as is usual in role-playing games, which, when certain point limits are reached, allow the character to develop their skills. The character development possibilities are given by a very limited, character-specific skill tree. The selection of abilities is mainly combat-oriented, in contrast to the D&D rules, spells consume 2 mana energy in Dark Alliance too. In addition to action-oriented fights, there are skill and jump passages as well as simple switch puzzles. To save the game, the player has to go to special save points in the game world.

Unlike in the predecessor, each character, with the exception of the bonus characters, has a mission series tailored to them. The scope of the mission and thus the duration of the game has been increased significantly, especially through the addition of numerous side quests. A simple craft system allows the player to expand and improve his equipment with the help of precious stones.

If desired, the single player campaign can be played through with a second player in a cooperative mode.

development

Release years of the Infinity games and Dark Alliance series

1998		Baldur's Gate
1999		Baldur's Gate: Legends of the Sword Coast Planescape: Torment
2000		Icewind Dale Baldur’s Gate II: Shadow of Amn
2001		Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance
2002		Icewind Dale II
2003
2004		Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2
~
2012		Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
2013		Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
2014		Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition
2015
2016		Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear
2017		Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition

Dark Alliance 2 was announced on March 24, 2003. Unlike its predecessor, it was not developed by Snowblind Studios , but by Black Isle Studios. It is also the developer's last game, as Interplay closed its role-playing division before it was released on December 8, 2003. Like its predecessor, Dark Alliance 2 also uses the Dark Alliance engine. In Europe, the game was distributed by the American publisher Acclaim Entertainment .

reception

Dark Alliance 2 received good, but significantly worse ratings than its predecessor (Metacritic: 78 out of 100 (PS2) / 77 (Xbox)). Mathias Oertel from 4Players complained that compared to its predecessor, the game only made cautious additions to the game principle and contained too few innovations. In addition, the unchanged graphics adopted from the predecessor are no longer up to date and the limitation of the multiplayer to two players means that the game falls behind competing products with the 4-player option. Nevertheless, the uncomplicated game principle is still motivating and the additions to the game principle with side quests and the craft system are a meaningful enrichment.

successor

A continuation was indicated in the credits of the game and publicly confirmed by Interplay. However, due to licensing reasons and ongoing financial difficulties at Interplay, the project was never implemented.

Web links

• Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 at MobyGames (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Justin Calvert: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II announced ( English ) In: GameSpot . CNET . April 24, 2003. Retrieved September 12, 2011.
2. ↑ Tor Thorsen: Interplay shuts down Black Isle Studios ( English ) In: GameSpot . CNET . December 8, 2003. Retrieved May 1, 2006.
3. ↑ Justin Calvert: Dark Alliance II signed for Europe ( English ) In: GameSpot . CNET . January 28, 2004. Retrieved September 12, 2011.
4. ↑ Metacritic : average PS2 rating , based on 44 ratings. Last accessed on June 16, 2012.
5. ↑ Metacritic : Average Xbox rating , based on 44 ratings. Last accessed on June 16, 2012.
6. ^ Mathias Oertel: Test: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 . In: 4Players . freenet AG . February 21, 2004. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
7. ↑ David Adams: Next Dark Alliance Will Be D & D-Free ( English ) In: IGN . IGN . April 15, 2004. Retrieved September 11, 2011.