Game Info Publisher Interplay Developer Bioware Genre RPG Origin Canada Number of Players 6 Net Support YES Accelerated YES Release late 2000 Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn looks to improve on one of the best RPGs ever. BGII will include a revamped interface and several new features from the optional AD&D rule set. There's a whole slew of graphical improvements as well, like larger creatures, impressive new spell effects, and support for 800 x 600 resolutions.

Shadows of Amn, based on the 2nd edition AD&D rule set, will take place along the Sword Coast, just south of where the original game was set. Geographically speaking, Baldur’s Gate II is going to have a large variety of locations for you to visit. Since the game takes place along the Sword Coast in the Forgotten Realms universe, you’ll have a chance to explore cities and locales you would expect from the area: an Elven city embedded deep in the Tethir forests, the underground Drow city Underdark, an underwater Sahuagin town, and even the bustling metropolis of Athkatla, the capitol of Amn and one of the largest cities in the upcoming RPG. As Ohlen tells us, “With the city of Athkatla, we wanted to create the most detailed and believable fantasy city ever found in an RPG.” But since your characters will attain extremely high levels during the game, you’ll also have the chance to explore some more peculiar and dangerous areas like the Astral Plane and even the vile depths of Hell. In order to decrease travel times through the more tangible reaches of the Amn region, BioWare has increased character movement speed by 150%. Shadows of Amn will also include an annotated map feature that will allow you to write notes directly on your map, making for easier navigation around the gameworld since you can note points of interest. And in an effort to make it as simple as possible to determine where your next goals lie, your adventuring journal will now be split into three separate sections – main quests, side quests, and finished quests – making it easier to determine where to head next.

You can import your characters from the original game or from the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion set, or, of course, create an all new hero for BGII. All characters in Shadows of Amn will begin with 89,000 experience points, effectively starting them somewhere between 7th or 8th level, depending on their class. In order to make the transition from the original to the sequel fair to imported characters, they will be credited 89,000 experience points when they are imported even if you haven’t earned that many. You’ll be able to work your way as high as 20th level in Shadows of Amn, affording you some neat amenities usually reserved for high-level characters, like the acquisition of special class rewards for completing certain quests. One such task in Shadows of Amn will be to clear a Keep of unwanted denizens. In appreciation for your help, if your main hero is a Fighter, (s)he will be awarded ownership of the Keep to set up as his/her personal stronghold. Don’t fret if you don’t decide to be a Fighter, though. Every class will have something similar to the Fighter’s Keep. One example mentioned by the BioWare team being a personal Guild for you Thieves out there (you know who you are, and you know what you’ve stolen … now give it back).

Since they already have a very solid framework in the Infinity engine to build upon, the design team can now go in and add a lot of story options and new features to the game that they just weren’t able to do in the original due to time constraints. As Black Isle Producer Chris Parker explains, “A lot of our goals in BGII was to increase the depth of play and the depth of story,” and from what we saw the other night, they’re doing just that. The development team is going to incorporate several new enhancements to the game, and even looked to the players for suggests on how to improve on Baldur’s Gate. One such player request was the addition of character kits from the optional rules set. “This was one of the major fan requests, and we wanted to do that in BGII,” says BioWare Producer Ben Smedstad. “Basically the bottom line is this – we took all the suggestions from our casual and hardcore gamers and made the best role-playing game possible.” And it seems like they're on track to do just that. There will be a total of 20 specialized character kits, including Barbarians, Cavaliers, Bounty Hunters, Wizard Slayers, Berserkers, Kensai, Assassins, and Jesters. In addition to the character specialization kits, BioWare has added fighting proficiencies (including one handed, two-handed, weapon/shield combo, and dual wield), new weapons (like the wakisashi, katana ), new magic items, new skills for Thieves (move silent, detect illusion, and set traps), and will also introduce the Half-Orc as a player character race.

In addition to beefing up the dynamics of the game by adding some of the optional rules from AD&D, BioWare is stressing much more intra-party interaction in the sequel. There will be party romances, love triangles, and disagreements. And, instead of repeating two or three canned phrases throughout the entire game, your party members will let you know exactly how they feel by telling you directly. “Each of the individual characters in the game has as much dialogue as all of the characters in the first Baldur’s Gate,” story writer Dave Gaiden tells us. Characters will also be much more robust and well rounded in terms of their personal history, and you’ll learn about all sorts of background information from family problems to personal goals, past relationships to former lives. All in all there will be 15 characters in Baldur’s Gate II that you’ll be able to choose from to incorporate into your 6-person party. And on the non-player character side of things, there are already 200 more NPCs in BGII than in BG and Tales of the Sword Coast combined, which means for even more opportunities to interact with the gameworld environment.

Overall, your party should be much easier to manage as well. The team has fixed some of the nasty pathing problems that would often put your spellcasters at the front of your group, in a prime position to get wailed upon by the opposition. Now your strong-arms will automatically take positions at the front of the ranks and your weaker supporting mana slingers will make their way to the back of the ranks.

Baldur's Gate II is getting a graphical facelift as well. The game can now be run in 800 x 600 resolution, making for a larger viewing field than was possible in Baldur’s Gate, and making the game much tighter and crisper visually. Another much needed enhancement to the Infinity engine will be the addition of OpenGL 3D support, giving those of you with an accelerator increased video performance. Shadows of Amn will also sport a revamped interface, with many enhancements based on player suggestions. While the updated interface includes all of the original functionality of Baldur’s Gate, the team has opted to include such enhancements as a rest button on the front page now so players don’t have to go digging every time they need to sleep. “We really looked to the players to see how we could improve the feel of BGII,” James tells us. You’re still presented with option buttons on the left hand side of the screen, character portraits on the right, and a text field at the bottom, but now any and all of these interfaces can be hidden so you can play BGII in full screen mode. And let me tell you, Shadows of Amn looks absolutely beautiful running full screen in 800 x 600 resolution.

BioWare is adding an additional 130 spells to the already impressive magical arsenal, making for over 300 total spells in BGII. And since your characters can achieve such high levels, expect to see the most powerful spells in the AD&D universe included in Shadows of Amn, -- Meteor Swarm, Contingency, Time Stop, Chain Lightning, Blade Barrier, and Summon Elemental (which sounds really neat as you’ll have to win a battle of wills with the Elemental or it will attack your party). Of course, these new spells will be accompanied by colorful new lighting effects, but the art team has also gone back and revamped the look of some of the older spells which they weren’t too happy with in the original game. As Chris explains, “We’re bringing new spells to the game and making them graphically beautiful in the process, as well as upgrading the effects associated with many of the existing spells." The team also says they are looking into Familiars for Magic Users, although nothing definite had been decided as of yet.

Along with new spells, an enhanced interface, character specializations, a refined spell effects (jeez, is there anything the kids at BioWare aren't doing?), BioWare has added an entire bestiary of new creatures for you to take your aggressions out on. Powerful monsters like the Mind Flayer, Djinni, Trolls, Umber Hulk, and the multi-eyed Beholder. There will also be many more obscure faces -- like the Githyanki --from the creature compendium Fiend Folio. You're going to be up against much more robust foes in Shadows of Amn, and many show their fortitude not only by the damage they deal out, but also by their shear size. Some, like the Iron Golem, are huge compared to any of the beasts from Baldur’s Gate. Co-Lead Designer Kevin Martens even hints at the possibility of Dragons in Shadows of Amn, saying, “It is called Dungeons and Dragons, and we already have the dungeons.”

Multiplay options in BGII hold true to the original, with a few improvements. While the game will still focus on one main character to drive the story, other players are now free to roam around while the main player is selling or buying items. This minimizes down time and keeps other players busy instead of freezing them in limbo waiting for the main character to finish his/her transactions.

As joint CEO of BioWare Ray Muzyka puts it, “BG was intended to be the game we always wanted to play, and BGII is going to be even better.” Thanks Ray, I think most RPGers would agree that the original BG was the game they always wanted to play as well, and I know all of us at the IGNPC dungeon are looking forward to getting our hands on Shadows of Amn. Look for it sometime in late 2000, and keep checking back to IGNPC for updates on BGII as they become available.

-- Tal Blevins