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188-717: Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is a role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Interplay Entertainment . It is the sequel to 1998's Baldur's Gate and was released for Windows in September 2000. Following its predecessor, the game takes place in the Forgotten Realms , a fantasy campaign setting, and is based on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition rules. Powered by BioWare's Infinity Engine , Baldur's Gate II uses an isometric perspective and pausable real-time gameplay. The player controls

376-490: A party , and attain victory by completing a series of quests or reaching the conclusion of a central storyline. Players explore a game world, while solving puzzles and engaging in combat. A key feature of the genre is that characters grow in power and abilities, and characters are typically designed by the player. RPGs rarely challenge a player's physical coordination or reaction time, with the exception of action role-playing games . Role-playing video games typically rely on

564-450: A big open world , and let you do whatever you like [which makes it] difficult to tell a compelling story." Hironobu Sakaguchi noted that "users like to categorise" WRPGs as "a sort of different style, born from first person shooters." In recent years, some have also criticized WRPGs for becoming less RPG-like, instead with further emphasis on action. Christian Nutt of GameSpy states that, in contrast to JRPGs, WRPGs' greater control over

752-615: A country on the subcontinent of Faerûn . This country, known commonly as the Merchant Kingdom, lies south of Baldur's Gate ; wealth and trade are the chief concerns of the region. The capital city of Athkatla , around which a fair portion of the game revolves, is the most important in Amn and is ruled by the anonymous Council of Six. The local thieves' guild , the Shadow Thieves , also has considerable power. The group, which operates all along

940-454: A designer and tester worked their way through the quests, each pair covering about six quests per day. When a quest was verified, its cross was removed. Muzyka wrote: In the final days of working on BG2 there was a strangely serene feeling in the office. We didn't experience the headlong panic that is sometimes prevalent while finishing a game, but we certainly did experience considerable stress as we built 21 final candidates in 3 days. After

1128-580: A doorway or staircase, causes another area to be loaded. Clicking on the edge of an outside area causes the party to travel there; the game then presents the player with the World Map, from which the player may select a destination. The player interacts with characters and objects by clicking on them. Clicking on the ground causes the player's selected characters to move. The gameplay, though in real-time, can be paused , whereupon commands may be issued to controllable characters, who will attempt to execute them when

1316-659: A druid grove connected to Trademeet's woes; the Windspear Hills, where the player becomes entangled in the intrigues of Firkraag, a dragon; the underwater Sahuagin city; and the Planar Prison. Baldur's Gate II is set in the year 1369 DR (Dale Reckoning), and thus takes place not long after the Time of Troubles (1358 DR), when the Tablets of Fate , powerful magic items which maintain a balance between good and evil, were stolen. Lord Ao ,

1504-518: A fellow child of Bhaal. Some notable characters in Shadows of Amn include: Gaelan Bayle, who offers the party the help of the Shadow Thieves; Aran Linvail, the leader of the Shadow Thieves; Saemon Havarian, who sails the party to an island; Adalon, a silver dragon whose eggs have been stolen and given to drow ; Elhan; and Queen Ellesime, the ruler of Suldanessellar. Jon Irenicus and his sister Bodhi are

1692-548: A few long nights with the whole team playing the game over and over again, we reached a point where we built a good final candidate. Then it was sent to the duplicators! Black Isle Studios, the publisher, handled the game's voice-over . Producer Chris Parker, writing in April 2000 about the upcoming voice-over recording sessions as Baldur's Gate II neared completion, observed that it could only start once story and dialogue were done. A script would then be put together that, in addition to

1880-409: A finite number of points to the attributes of their choice. Gaining experience will also unlock new magic spells for characters that use magic. Some role-playing games also give the player specific skill points , which can be used to unlock a new skill or improve an existing one. This may sometimes be implemented as a skill tree. As with the technology trees seen in strategy video games , learning

2068-545: A gamemaster. Exploring the world is an important aspect of many RPGs. Players will walk through, talking to non-player characters , picking up objects, and avoiding traps. Some games such as NetHack , Diablo , and the FATE series randomize the structure of individual levels, increasing the game's variety and replay value. Role-playing games where players complete quests by exploring randomly generated dungeons and which include permadeath are called roguelikes , named after

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2256-449: A greater degree in the early 1990s. As console RPGs became more heavily story-based than their computer counterparts, one of the major differences that emerged during this time was in the portrayal of the characters. Console RPGs often featured intricately related characters who had distinctive personalities and traits, with players assuming the roles of people who cared about each other, fell in love or even had families. Romance in particular

2444-536: A highly developed story and setting, which is divided into a number of quests. Players control one or several characters by issuing commands, which are performed by the character at an effectiveness determined by that character's numeric attributes. Often these attributes increase each time a character gains a level , and a character's level goes up each time the player accumulates a certain amount of experience. Role-playing video games also typically attempt to offer more complex and dynamic character interaction than what

2632-626: A hold as they had in the West due to their cost; there was little market for Western-developed games and there were a few Japanese-developed games for personal computers during this time such as The Black Onyx (1984) which followed the Wizardry / Ultima format. With the release of the low-cost Famicom console (called the Nintendo Entertainment System overseas), a new opportunity arose to bring role-playing games to Japan. Dragon Quest (1986)

2820-805: A large number of Western indie games are modelled after JRPGs, especially those of the 16-bit era , partly due to the RPG Maker game development tools . Another oft-cited difference is the prominence or absence of kawaisa , or "cuteness", in Japanese culture, and different approaches with respect to character aesthetics. WRPGs tend to maintain a serious and gritty tone, whereas JRPG protagonists tend to be designed with an emphasis on aesthetic beauty, and even male characters are often young, androgynous , shōnen or bishōnen in appearance. JRPGs often have cute characters, juxtaposed with more mature themes and situations; and many modern JRPGs feature characters designed in

3008-561: A level description and receive it, art complete, a month later ready for scripting, but missing some key features (almost always a door). We would then have to determine whether the omission was important enough to have the art piece redone, or whether we could simply tweak the design of the level to fit the finished art". Areas were made more compact than before, the amount of "dead space" being curtailed, facilitating faster travel between key areas because less distance has to be traveled. Marcia Tofer, art director for Shadows of Amn , worked with

3196-634: A little box doesn't mean it belongs there." Nick Doerr of Joystiq criticizes the claim that JRPGs are "too linear", pointing out that non-linear JRPGs are not uncommon—for instance, the Romancing SaGa series. Likewise, Rowan Kaiser of Joystiq points out that linear WRPGs were common in the 1990s, and argues that many of the often mentioned differences between Eastern and Western games are stereotypes that are generally "not true" and "never was", pointing to classic examples like Lands of Lore and Betrayal at Krondor that were more narrative-focused than

3384-423: A major challenge in order to progress to the next area, and this structure can be compared to the boss characters at the end of levels in action games . The player typically must complete a linear sequence of certain quests in order to reach the end of the game's story. Many RPGs also often allow the player to seek out optional side-quests and character interactions. Quests of this sort can be found by talking to

3572-467: A map has been described to give a sense of exploring the unknown. Crawford said that "reasonable" uses of fog of war, such as needing to send out scouts, "not only seem natural, but ... add to the realism and excitement of the game" Merchant Prince displays over unexplored territory what Computer Gaming World described as a " renaissance-style map of dubious accuracy ". In some strategy games that make use of fog of war, enemy AI may have knowledge of

3760-459: A mixed class, such as a fighter who can cast simple spells. Characters will also have a range of physical attributes such as dexterity and strength, which affect a player's performance in combat. Mental attributes such as intelligence may affect a player's ability to perform and learn spells, while social attributes such as charisma may limit the player's choices while conversing with non-player characters. These attribute systems often strongly resemble

3948-419: A non-player character, and there may be no penalty for abandoning or ignoring these quests other than a missed opportunity or reward. Players can find loot (such as clothing, weapons, and armor) throughout the game world and collect it. Players can trade items for currency and better equipment. Trade takes place while interacting with certain friendly non-player characters, such as shopkeepers, and often uses

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4136-466: A number of user-configurable settings. Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel and Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura offered players the option to play in either turn-based or RTwP mode via a configuration setting. The latter also offered a "fast turn-based" mode, though all three of the game's modes were criticized for being poorly balanced and oversimplified. Early Ultima games featured timed turns: they were strictly turn-based, but if

4324-527: A paladin that a halfling can aspire to"; Nalia, who is of the upper class, but, though conscious of class distinction, tries to help those less fortunate than herself; Valygar, who is of a family noted for its talented magic-users, but hates the art; Anomen, a member of the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart, and whose wish is to become a full knight; Cernd, a druid; Haer'Dalis, a tiefling bard and one of

4512-442: A particular action will increase. Many role-playing games allow players to play as an evil character. Although robbing and murdering indiscriminately may make it easier to get money, there are usually consequences in that other characters will become uncooperative or even hostile towards the player. Thus, these games allow players to make moral choices, but force players to live with the consequences of their actions. Games often let

4700-483: A particular skill in the tree will unlock more powerful skills deeper in the tree. Three different systems of rewarding the player characters for solving the tasks in the game can be set apart: the experience system (also known as the "level-based" system), the training system (also known as the "skill-based" system) and the skill-point system (also known as "level-free" system) Older games often separated combat into its own mode of gameplay, distinct from exploring

4888-425: A party of up to six characters, one of whom is the player-created protagonist; the others are certain characters recruited from the game world. Much of Baldur's Gate II takes place in and around Athkatla, a city in the country of Amn . Opening shortly after the events of Baldur's Gate , the game continues the story of the protagonist, Gorion's Ward, whose unique heritage has now drawn the attention of Jon Irenicus,

5076-581: A positive-feedback cycle that is central to most role-playing games: The player grows in power, allowing them to overcome more difficult challenges, and gain even more power. This is part of the appeal of the genre, where players experience growing from an ordinary person into a superhero with amazing powers. Whereas other games give the player these powers immediately, the player in a role-playing game will choose their powers and skills as they gain experience. Role-playing games usually measure progress by counting experience points and character levels. Experience

5264-557: A powerful and sinister mage. The storyline revolves around the machinations of Irenicus and the player's encounters with him. Development began in January 1999. BioWare set out to improve upon the first Baldur's Gate in every way possible. From a list of constructive criticism—compiled from the suggestions of fans, reviews, and internal suggestions—a list of features to be added to the game was distilled: some of these were 800 x 600 resolution, 3D support, and character kits. For Baldur's Gate ,

5452-488: A reputation, which is affected by the player's moral actions, and which, along with the party leader's charisma attribute, influences how NPCs in the game world react to the player. The characters in the party will also complain if the party's reputation conflicts with their alignment. Resting heals the characters in the party and refreshes those who are fatigued; also, resting allows a character to memorize spells. The game contains over 300 spells available for memorization. With

5640-402: A result, Japanese-style role-playing games are held in disdain by some Western gamers, leading to the term "JRPG" being held in the pejorative. Some observers have also speculated that JRPGs are stagnating or declining in both quality and popularity, including remarks by BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk and writing director Daniel Erickson that JRPGs are stagnating—and that Final Fantasy XIII

5828-573: A sales record for an Interplay computer title. The game and its Collector's Edition were ranked 11th and 19th, respectively, on PC Data's monthly chart for September. Entering its third week, the game fell to fifth place on the weekly chart, but it remained in the top 10 throughout the October 5–28 period, and finished seventh for the month. Afterwards, it was absent from PC Data's weekly top 10 and monthly top 20. PC Data reported Baldur's Gate II ' s sales at 199,914 copies and its revenues at $ 9.2 million in

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn - Misplaced Pages Continue

6016-442: A side-scrolling view. Most notably since Ultima Underworld (1992), role-playing games started implementing true three-dimensional (3D) graphics, where players typically navigate the game world from a first or third-person perspective. However, an isometric or aerial top-down perspective is common in party-based RPGs, in order to give the player a clear view of their entire party and their surroundings. Role-playing games require

6204-495: A similar sentiment, saying that the game was incomparable and without peers. Though extolling the game immensely and finding only small issues, Computer Gaming World ' s reviewer noted that he would not trap himself with the "best RPG ever" phrase, but conceded that it "certainly ranks up there with greats like Fallout , Planescape: Torment , and Betrayal at Krondor ". Eurogamer lavished much praise upon Baldur's Gate II , and noted that "the story and quests are captivating,

6392-490: A single paragraph) spread across 13 booklets, while the second contains 50,000 paragraphs spread across 14 booklets. Most of the games from this era are turn-based, although Dungeon Master and its imitators have real-time combat. Other classic titles from this era include The Bard's Tale (1985), Wasteland (1988), the start of the Might and Magic (1986–2014) series and the continuing Ultima (1981–1999) series. Later, in

6580-409: A smaller set of possible actions, since computers can't engage in imaginative acting comparable to a skilled human gamemaster. In exchange, the typical role-playing video game may have storyline branches, user interfaces, and stylized cutscenes and gameplay to offer a more direct storytelling mechanism. Characterization of non-player characters in video games is often handled using a dialog tree . Saying

6768-415: A specialized trading screen. Purchased items go into the player's inventory. Some games turn inventory management into a logistical challenge by limiting the size of the player's inventory, thus forcing the player to decide what they must carry at the time. This can be done by limiting the maximum weight that a player can carry, by employing a system of arranging items in a virtual space, or by simply limiting

6956-492: A spectacular conclusion to the Baldur's Gate saga. It won the "PC Role-Playing" award at the 2002 Interactive Achievement Awards. Shadows of Amn was re-released, along with its expansion, Throne of Bhaal , as Baldur's Gate II: The Collection in 2003. In 2004, they were bundled with the original Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale as Black Isle Compilation Part Two . In 2006, they were re-released with Baldur's Gate and Tales of

7144-463: A spell, as ammunition is consumed by a gun, most games offer players a finite amount of mana which can be spent on any spell. Mana is restored by resting or by consuming potions. Characters can also gain other non-magical skills, which stay with the character for as long as the character lives. Role-playing games may have the player focus only on a single character throughout the game; the character may be joined by computer-controlled allies outside of

7332-512: A team of 8 to 12 people to create the game's artwork, such as the backgrounds, monsters, etc. Tofer observed that the city of Baldur's Gate had been their first attempt at city building and what they learned there served to make Athkatla "far more diverse and interesting". City renders took from 18 to 24 hours, though they used hardware that was powerful for those days: multiple Dual Pentium IIIs at 500 MHz, coupled with 512 MB of memory. In traditional mediums like text or film and television, what

7520-481: A trade-off of precision and certainty for speed and agility. Militaries employ command and control (C2) systems and doctrine to partially alleviate the fog of war. The term also applies to the experience of individual soldiers in battle: often cited is the pure confusion of direction, location, and perspective on a battlefield. Officers and soldiers become separated, orders become confused and subject to revision with poor communication. Sounds and vision are limited from

7708-540: Is also common in both turn-based and real-time strategy games, such as League of Legends , the Close Combat series , Total War series , Age of Empires series , Red Alert series , Advance Wars series , Fire Emblem series , Sid Meier 's Civilization series , and the Supreme Commander series . Fog of war gives players an incentive to uncover a game's world. A compulsion to reveal obscured parts of

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn - Misplaced Pages Continue

7896-477: Is called for; a skilled intelligence to scent out the truth. It has been pointed out that von Clausewitz does not use the exact phrase "fog of war", and also uses multiple similar metaphors, such as "twilight" and "moonlight", to describe a 'lack of clarity'. The first known use of the exact phrase in text dates to 1836 in a poem entitled "The Battle of Bunker Hill" by McDonald Clarke . The poem describes an assault by British forces upon an American redoubt during

8084-428: Is distracted as his complex is attacked by Shadow Thieves, and disappears to fight them. Imoen , appearing from a side room, frees the player character. Jaheira and Minsc are also held in cells close by. Minsc reveals that his witch Dynaheir was killed sometime after their capture, while Jaheira's husband Khalid is later found tortured to death, leaving Jaheira emotionally devastated. The characters fight their way through

8272-484: Is found in other video game genres. This usually involves additional focus on the artificial intelligence and scripted behavior of computer-controlled non-player characters . The premise of many role-playing games tasks the player with saving the world, or whichever level of society is threatened. There are often twists and turns as the story progresses, such as the surprise appearance of estranged relatives, or enemies who become friends or vice versa. The game world

8460-496: Is largely predefined for the sake of telling a specific story, many role-playing games make use of a character creation screen. This allows players to choose their character's sex, their race or species, and their character class. Although many of these traits are cosmetic, there are functional aspects as well. Character classes will have different abilities and strengths. Common classes include fighters, spellcasters, thieves with stealth abilities, and clerics with healing abilities, or

8648-492: Is not even really an RPG; criticisms regarding seemingly nebulous justifications by some Japanese designers for newly changed (or, alternately, newly un-changed) features of recent titles; calls among some gaming journalists to "fix" JRPGs' problems; as well as claims that some recent titles such as Front Mission Evolved are beginning to attempt—and failing to—imitate Western titles. In an article for PSM3 , Brittany Vincent of RPGFan.com felt that "developers have mired

8836-484: Is notable for introducing automapping and in-game scrolls providing hints and background information. They also released Pool of Radiance in 1988, the first of several " Gold Box " CRPGs based on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules . These games feature a first-person display for movement, combined with an overhead tactical display for combat. One common feature of RPGs from this era, which Matt Barton calls

9024-621: Is often rooted in speculative fiction (i.e. fantasy or science fiction ), which allows players to do things they cannot do in real life and helps players suspend their disbelief about the rapid character growth. To a lesser extent, settings closer to the present day or near future are possible. The story often provides much of the entertainment in the game. Because these games have strong storylines, they can often make effective use of recorded dialog and voiceover narration. Players of these games tend to appreciate long cutscenes more than players of faster action games . While most games advance

9212-472: Is one of these offspring, but, through the choices of the player, may be either good or evil. The character grew up in the library fortress of Candlekeep, watched over by the mage Gorion. Imoen , who grew up there as well, became a close friend. The story of the first Baldur's Gate followed their adventure along the Sword Coast, where the hero learned of their heritage and defeated their half-brother Sarevok,

9400-418: Is played from an isometric perspective, and the screen, which does not need to remain centered on the protagonist, can be scrolled with the mouse or keyboard. Areas are revealed as they are explored by the player's characters. A fog of war effect hides explored areas when the player's characters move away from them. The player can also change the formation in which the party moves. Clicking an area exit, such as

9588-596: Is read or seen is effectively controlled by the creators. Games are a visual medium, according to Luke Kristjanson, one of the writers and designers on Shadows of Amn , but they are unlike the traditional ones of film and television. For Baldur's Gate , the developers knew what would be seen on the critical path, but not when players would see it, or whether the right amount of significance would be placed upon it. In Shadows of Amn , several tools were used to remedy these shortcomings. One of these were in-game cutscenes, which were like small plays, "adding suspense and depth to

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9776-487: Is situated on an island. Irenicus soon breaks his bonds and prepares to experiment on Imoen. Back in Athkatla, the party raises the money necessary and receives assistance from whichever organization it has decided to work with, and gains passage to the island on a ship sailed by the dubious and treacherous Saemon Havarian. The heroes then manage to get inside Spellhold, but they are captured by Irenicus, who has taken control of

9964-472: Is used to view information about, as well as level up, characters in the party; the mage book and priest scroll screens, where spells can be inspected and memorized; and the options screen, where settings may be altered, saved-games loaded, or the game saved or quit. During character creation the player chooses a class: fighter , ranger , paladin , thief , bard , mage , cleric , druid , barbarian , monk , or sorcerer (the last three of which are new for

10152-406: Is usually divided so that each game location is an opportunity to reveal a new chapter in the story. Pen-and-paper role-playing games typically involve a player called the gamemaster (or GM for short) who can dynamically create the story, setting, and rules, and react to a player's choices. In role-playing video games, the computer performs the function of the gamemaster. This offers the player

10340-451: Is usually earned by defeating enemies in combat, with some games offering experience for completing certain quests or conversations. Experience becomes a form of score , and accumulating a certain amount of experience will cause the character's level to go up. This is called "levelling up", and gives the player an opportunity to raise their character(s)'s attributes. Many RPGs allow players to choose how to improve their character, by allocating

10528-399: Is where the stress really begins, and that the third phase is actually not as bad as one might think, because by then people are used to the lengthy hours. During the game's development, a quality assurance department was added to BioWare, and the game's publishers lent their assistance in testing. Muzyka wrote that "because of its immense size, Baldur's Gate II was a tester's nightmare—this

10716-579: The Dungeons & Dragons ruleset. Some role-playing games make use of magical powers , or equivalents such as psychic powers or advanced technology. These abilities are confined to specific characters such as mages, spellcasters, or magic-users. In games where the player controls multiple characters, these magic-users usually complement the physical strength of other classes. Magic can be used to attack, defend, or temporarily change an enemy or ally's attributes. While some games allow players to gradually consume

10904-585: The Nintendo DS have had more original and experimental Japanese RPGs released in recent years. Western RPGs have also received criticism in recent years. They remain less popular in Japan, where, until recently, Western games in general had a negative reputation. In Japan, where the vast majority of early console role-playing video games originate, Western RPGs remain largely unknown. The developer Motomu Toriyama criticized Western RPGs, stating that they "dump you in

11092-607: The PlayStation 4 , Xbox One , and Nintendo Switch in 2019. In the United States, Baldur's Gate II entered PC Data 's computer game sales charts at #5 during the September 17–23 period. It rose to second place the following week, behind The Sims: Livin' Large , while its Collector's Edition captured the seventh position. In its first 14 days, Baldur's Gate II drew in revenues of $ 4 million across all SKUs in North America,

11280-476: The Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal soundtracks. Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition was released in 2013. Developed by Overhaul Games , it is an enhanced version of Baldur's Gate II and uses an updated version of the Infinity Engine. The game was released for PC, iOS, Mac OS X, Linux, and Android . Skybound Games, a division of Skybound Entertainment , brought Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition to

11468-647: The Sharp X1 computer in 1983 and later ported to the MSX in 1984, the NES in 1985 and the Sharp X68000 as New Bokosuka Wars . The game laid the foundations for the tactical role-playing game genre, or "simulation RPG" genre as it is known in Japan. It was also an early example of a real-time , action role-playing game . In 1986, Chunsoft created the NES title Dragon Quest (called Dragon Warrior in North America until

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11656-640: The Sword Coast , is based in Athkatla. Another powerful organization in Amn are the Cowled Wizards , who regulate the use of magic in the region. The Shadow Thieves, the Cowled Wizards, and the Harpers , a semi-secret conglomeration of good organizations, all factor prominently into the story and provide side quests. Besides Athkatla, other places the player will pass through include: an island, on which stands both

11844-500: The Ultima series, employed duplicates of the miniatures combat system traditionally used in the early role-playing games . Representations of the player characters and monsters would move around an arena modeled after the surrounding terrain, attacking any enemies that are sufficiently close. Earlier role-playing video games used a two-dimensional top-down view or tile-based first-person view. Early action-based role-playing games often used

12032-575: The Underdark . Upon reaching the surface, the party encounters the army of the elven city of Suldanessellar . The elves cannot return to the city, for Irenicus has magically hidden it. To gain access to it, the party secures the Rhynn Lanthorn from Bodhi, who has stolen the artifact; upon Bodhi's death, Imoen's soul is restored. The Rhynn Lanthorn lights the way to Suldanessellar, which has been invaded by Irenicus and his minions. The party proceeds through

12220-477: The cavalier —one of the kits of the paladin class—specializes in fighting monsters such as dragons and demons , but cannot use missile weapons . At some point in the game, the player may join or take over a stronghold . The type of stronghold is determined by the protagonist's class. The game also has a multiplayer mode, in which up to six human players can adventure through the game, controlling player-made characters as well as recruited NPCs. The content of

12408-500: The eighth game ), which drew inspiration from computer RPGs Ultima and Wizardry and is regarded as the template for future Japanese role-playing video games released since then. Also in 1986 The Legend of Zelda was released for the NES , while not generally considered an RPG itself did inspire many aspects of future action-RPGs. In 1987, the genre came into its own with the release of several highly influential console RPGs distinguishing themselves from computer RPGs, including

12596-436: The " Golden Age " of computer RPGs, is the use of numbered "paragraphs" printed in the manual or adjunct booklets, containing the game's lengthier texts; the player can be directed to read a certain paragraph, instead of being shown the text on screen. The ultimate exemplar of this approach is Sir-Tech 's Star Saga trilogy (of which only two games were released); the first game contains 888 "textlets" (usually much longer than

12784-462: The 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill : "Will they dare a third attack? Is a question seen in every eye; Old Put across the neck and back, Rides slowly, their vengeance to defy— Wildy, in that deadly hour, The Ramparts shove their bolted shower, While mid the waving fog of war, Thunders the Yankee’s loud hurrah" The first known attempt to explicitly define the "fog of war" in a military text

12972-416: The 1980 video game Rogue . The game's story is often mapped onto exploration, where each chapter of the story is mapped onto a different location. RPGs usually allow players to return to previously visited locations. Usually, there is nothing left to do there, although some locations change throughout the story and offer the player new things to do in response. Players must acquire enough power to overcome

13160-422: The 1990s, and became known for being more heavily story and character-based, American computer RPGs began to face criticism for having characters devoid of personality or background, due to representing avatars which the player uses to interact with the world, in contrast to Japanese console RPGs which depicted characters with distinctive personalities. American computer RPGs were thus criticized for lacking "more of

13348-453: The Infinity Engine, which had powered Baldur's Gate , but the engine was improved in many ways since development on Baldur's Gate II began: optional 800 x 600 resolution as well as the old 640 x 480 resolution. Drop-away side panels were implemented; for spells and special effects, 3D support was added. Pathfinding had been improved in Tales of the Sword Coast (the Baldur's Gate expansion), and

13536-586: The Overdeity, forced the gods to become mortal until the Tablets were found; some gods died while in this mortal state. Bhaal, the God of Murder, was slain by an adventurer named Cyric, who himself became a god, but Bhaal foresaw his destruction and walked the land before the other gods. He left behind him "a score of mortal progeny", whose later deaths, when they were slain by heroes, would fuel his rebirth. The game's protagonist

13724-448: The PCs enter these locations or perform certain actions. Combat options typically involve positioning characters, selecting which enemy to attack, and exercising special skills such as casting spells. In a classical turn-based system, only one character may act at a time; all other characters remain still, with a few exceptions that may involve the use of special abilities. The order in which

13912-608: The Ravager and Menzoberranzan , transferred the AD&;D license to several different developers, and eventually gave it to BioWare , who used it in Baldur's Gate (1998) and several later games. By the 2000s, 3D engines had become dominant. The earliest RPG on a console was Dragonstomper on the Atari 2600 in 1982. Another early RPG on a console was Bokosuka Wars , originally released for

14100-424: The Sword Coast can be imported. Once in the game world, the player may recruit certain non-player characters (NPCs) to travel with him or her, though only five may do so at a time; depending on who is present in the group, bickering, romance, and side quests can result. NPCs in the party often converse with the player or with one another, and at times interject into the player's conversations with others. The game

14288-580: The Sword Coast as Baldur's Gate: 4 in 1 Boxset . They were also included in The Forgotten Realms Deluxe Edition , Ultimate Dungeons & Dragons , and Dungeons & Dragons Anthology: The Master Collection . In 2010, Baldur's Gate II Complete was released in digital format on GOG.com , including both Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal . Bundled with it are the game manuals in PDF format, high-definition wallpapers, artwork, avatars , and

14476-503: The United States by the end of 2000. The game's success in the country continued during 2001, when it finished 15th for January and sold another 103,144 units between February and the first week of November alone. It tallied 225,763 domestic sales for the full year, which drew $ 9.63 million in revenue. On Media Control's computer game sales rankings for the German market, Baldur's Gate II debuted at #3 in October 2000. It climbed to second place

14664-582: The ability to pause the game and issue orders to all characters under his/her control; when the game is unpaused, all characters follow the orders they were given. This "real-time with pause" system ( RTwP ) has been particularly popular in games designed by BioWare . The most famous RTwP engine is the Infinity Engine . Other names for "real-time with pause" include "active pause" and "semi real-time". Tactical RPG maker Apeiron named their system Smart Pause Mode (SPM) because it would automatically pause based on

14852-545: The actions of a character (or several party members) immersed in some well-defined world, usually involving some form of character development by way of recording statistics. Many role-playing video games have origins in tabletop role-playing games and use much of the same terminology , settings , and game mechanics . Other major similarities with pen-and-paper games include developed story-telling and narrative elements, player character development, complexity, as well as replay value and immersion. The electronic medium removes

15040-494: The actors of an acting troupe; Jan, a gnome, of the Jansen family; Yoshimo, a thief from the land of Kara-Tur; and Korgan, an evil dwarven fighter. Shortly after the events of Baldur's Gate , the hero and companions are overcome and taken captive. When the game opens, the player character awakens in a cage and is then experimented on by a wizard, who is aware of the player character's heritage and speaks of "untapped power". The wizard

15228-437: The ambitious scope of Final Fantasy VII raised the possibilities for the genre, with its dozens of minigames and much higher production values. The latter includes innovations such as the use of 3D characters on pre-rendered backgrounds, battles viewed from multiple different angles rather than a single angle, and for the first time full-motion CGI video seamlessly blended into the gameplay, effectively integrated throughout

15416-434: The amount of dialogue and text. NPCs interject, reinforcing "the importance of events [and] contributing their own motivations". They recognize critical junctures in the game, since those are of significance to them as well. They even make comments to each other, as Kristjanson put it: "If Imoen thinks that Jaheira is being too strict she'll say so, and if Jaheira thinks Imoen is being immature she'll counter, and if Minsc thinks

15604-399: The amount of information available to the human player" to compensate for the computer's lack of intelligence. In a 1988 Computer Gaming World article Dave Arneson called fog of war "one of the biggest 'plus' factors in computer simulations", while Crawford concluded, using Tanktics as an example, that video game fog of war systems became less "fun" the more realistic they were, leading

15792-406: The background artwork "fantastic". The voice acting of Baldur's Gate II was also praised by FiringSquad, who said that "characters sound alive and vivacious (or depressed, crazy—whatever suits them)" and that the quality of the voices drew the player more deeply into the game. IGN called the voice acting "outstanding" and said the variety of personalities would cause players to become "attached" to

15980-570: The best video games ever made . GameSpy, GameSpot , and IGN awarded it their "Role-Playing Game of the Year" awards for 2000, and the game has sold more than two million units. An expansion pack, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal , was released in 2001. This well-received expansion, besides adding a large dungeon and enhancements to the game, concluded the main storyline. Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal have been included together in various compilations. In 2013, an enhanced version of Baldur's Gate II

16168-413: The both of them would benefit from getting hamsters of their own [...] he won't hesitate to offer that little nugget of wisdom". Kristjanson noted that the character of Imoen was unexpectedly popular with players of the first game, in spite of the fact that she was a late addition during development and was undeveloped as a character. Kristjanson remarked that her lack of interactions with other characters in

16356-535: The category," pointing to Chrono Trigger (which he also worked on) and the Mana games. He further noted that there have been "other games similar to the style of Chrono Trigger ," but that "it's probably because the games weren't localised and didn't reach the Western audience." Xeno series director Tetsuya Takahashi , in reference to Xenoblade Chronicles , stated that "I don't know when exactly people started using

16544-643: The characters act is usually dependent on their attributes, such as speed or agility. This system rewards strategic planning more than quickness. It also points to the fact that realism in games is a means to the end of immersion in the game world, not an end in itself. A turn-based system makes it possible, for example, to run within range of an opponent and kill them before they get a chance to act, or duck out from behind hard cover, fire, and retreat back without an opponent being able to fire, which are of course both impossibilities. However, tactical possibilities have been created by this unreality that did not exist before;

16732-456: The characters within a tile-based graphics system . Dragon Quest was highly successful in Japan, leading to further entries in the series and other titles such as Final Fantasy that followed the same simplifications made in RPGs for Dragon Quest . Because of these differences, the role-playing genre began to be classified into two fairly distinct styles: computer RPG and console RPG . By

16920-399: The characters, only noting with disapproval the dearth of new voices for the player's protagonist. Reviewers generally found the game's music to be well-done, but RPGamer felt it was "inoffensive but unimpressive". Role-playing video game A role-playing video game , role-playing game ( RPG ) or computer role-playing game ( CRPG ) is a video game genre where the player controls

17108-493: The chief antagonists, Irenicus being the main villain of the game. Forgotten Realms character Drizzt Do'Urden also makes an appearance; if the player solicits his aid, he and his companions will later help the player. In Baldur's Gate II , several characters from the first game reappear, of which the following can join the player's party: Imoen, who grew up with the protagonist in Candlekeep; Jaheira, who, with her husband Khalid,

17296-466: The city and, at the Tree of Life, learns that Irenicus is draining the power of the Tree, which will doom Suldanessellar. The heroes defeat him, but because Irenicus still has the protagonist's soul, the protagonist is dragged with the wizard into Hell, and the rest of the party are dragged along also. When they defeat Irenicus, they return to life and are honored by the elves of Suldanessellar. Baldur's Gate II

17484-440: The combat was much improved, with less frustration and more strategic options. Computer Gaming World agreed, saying players would put more consideration into designing and implementing combat plans. Eurogamer noted that the interface was "incredibly easy to use". IGN' s reviewer observed that many a time the game posed tough decisions that made him think, and also praised the clarity of the quests and ease of moving from one goal to

17672-413: The country's 31st-best-selling computer game released since January 2000. Baldur's Gate II received critical acclaim upon its release, and is listed as the eight highest-scoring PC game on the review aggregator Metacritic (as of August 2024). GameSpot 's reviewer stated that, while it is a long game, its fine points are what make it so great, and that it was in a class by itself. IGN concluded with

17860-458: The currently selected characters will advance to attack it. Information about characters, creatures, items, and buildings in the game environment is shown on a tool tip , which appears when the mouse pointer is held over game elements. When a character in the group gains the necessary experience points , he or she gains a level. Experience points are awarded for certain player actions, such as killing enemies or completing quests. The party also has

18048-408: The development and customization of playable characters has come at the expense of plot and gameplay, resulting in what he felt was generic dialogue, lack of character development within the narrative and weaker battle systems. He also states that WRPGs tend to focus more on the underlying rules governing the battle system rather than on the experience itself. Tom Battey of Edge Magazine noted that

18236-413: The difference between Baldur's Gate and Shadows of Amn "like looking at a still oil painting, and then turning to see the scene in living motion on a big screen TV". Eurogamer, too, commended the artwork. GameSpot thought both the pre-rendered backgrounds and the animations for characters and monsters were well done. FiringSquad said the game's artwork surpassed that of Planescape: Torment , and called

18424-520: The earliest role-playing video games on a microcomputer was Dungeon n Dragons , written by Peter Trefonas and published by CLOAD (1980). This early game, published for a TRS-80 Model 1, is just 16K long and includes a limited word parser command line, character generation, a store to purchase equipment, combat, traps to solve, and a dungeon to explore. Other contemporaneous CRPGs (Computer Role Playing Games) were Temple of Apshai , Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure and Akalabeth: World of Doom ,

18612-437: The early 2000s, the distinction between platforms became less pronounced as the same games appeared on both console and computer, but stylistic differences between Western role-playing games (WRPGs) and Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs) remained, rooted in the earlier distinctions. Though sharing fundamental premises, WRPGs tend to feature darker graphics, older characters, and a greater focus on roaming freedom, realism, and

18800-544: The exact phrase, in reference to 'uncertainty in war' was introduced by the Prussian military analyst Carl von Clausewitz in his posthumously published book, Vom Kriege (1832), the English translation of which was published as On War (1873): War is the realm of uncertainty; three quarters of the factors on which action in war is based are wrapped in a fog of greater or lesser uncertainty. A sensitive and discriminating judgment

18988-410: The exception of sorcerers, magic-users must memorize spells before they can be cast. Spell-casting takes time and may be disrupted by attacks or other spells. The player can access sub-screens through the interface: area and world maps; the journal, which tracks important information, such as quests and the game's plot; the inventory page, which is used to manage and equip items; the record screen, which

19176-514: The first game projected an impression of closeness to the player character, although this was not intended by the developers; this led to her being revealed as the player character's half-sister in its sequel and an integral character to its plot. Producer Ben Smedstad, speaking of "crunch time" during the latter stages of a game's development, noted that it was important to begin it at the right time, not too early, nor too late. By July 2000, Shadows of Amn had entered its second phase of crunch, where

19364-640: The following month, before dropping to 12th in December. The Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) presented it with a "Gold" award by the end of 2000, indicating sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Media Control proceeded to rank the game 10th, 17th and 23rd during the first three months of 2001, respectively. In the United Kingdom, Baldur's Gate II claimed #2 for its release month of November 2000, according to Chart-Track . It fell to tenth place in December, and exited

19552-502: The full game, including all side quests , is estimated to be between 200 and 300 hours. The player controls a party of up to six characters, one of whom is the protagonist; if the protagonist dies, a saved-game must be loaded, or a new game begun. The game begins with character creation through a series of configuration screens, choosing such things as class , ability scores , appearance, and alignment . Alternatively, an existing character from Baldur's Gate or its expansion Tales of

19740-503: The game is otherwise the same, and one player controls the protagonist. The Forgotten Realms , the high fantasy campaign setting in which Baldur's Gate II is set, is a fictional world similar to a medieval Earth , but with its own peoples, geography, and history. In the Realms, as its inhabitants call it, fantastic creatures and magic are common. Baldur's Gate II takes place mainly in Amn ,

19928-404: The game is unpaused. The game can also be set to pause automatically at certain times. Dialogue is started by NPCs at certain scripted times, or by the player's clicking on NPCs who are not immediately hostile. When speaking to an NPC, the player must often choose what to say from a list of responses. The dialogue may lead to quests or important information. When the player clicks on a hostile being,

20116-428: The game systems, guidelines focused on character customization and a well-crafted reward system. The writing guidelines were concerned mainly with dialogue: limiting the number of sentences NPCs spoke at a time, keeping the number of player response choices at three as often as possible, avoiding profanity and accents, and having a small set of random dialogue for unimportant NPCs. Many early design decisions did not follow

20304-435: The game world. More recent games tend to maintain a consistent perspective for exploration and combat. Some games, especially earlier video games, generate battles from random encounters ; more modern RPGs are more likely to have persistent wandering monsters that move about the game world independently of the player. Most RPGs also use stationary boss monsters in key positions, and automatically trigger battles with them when

20492-410: The game's engine and content were being developed at the same time, whereas with Baldur's Gate II , the engine was working from the start. Having a completed engine meant they could direct their efforts towards making content, instead of focusing on basic functionality. Shadows of Amn received critical acclaim, being praised for its gameplay, artwork, and voice acting, and is often regarded as one of

20680-416: The game). Different classes have different special abilities and restrictions; a thief character, for instance, can find and remove traps, but thieves have limitations on which weapons and armor they may use, and cannot be of lawful good alignment . Most classes also have a subset of kits , or specializations within a class, to choose from. Kits have special advantages and, usually, disadvantages; for example,

20868-447: The game, while good, was nowhere near as fun as the adventures in Athkatla. The game's plot was met positively by most reviewers, GameSpy calling it "epic" and GameSpot a "great story". Eurogamer felt the story quite outdid the original. Computer Gaming World , too, observed that it was much improved, adding that the plot style was reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings . He felt the story

21056-518: The game. The game was soon ported to the PC and gained much success there, as did several other originally console RPGs, blurring the line between the console and computer platforms. Computer-driven role-playing games had their start in Western markets, with games generally geared to be played on home computers. By 1985, series like Wizardry and Ultima represented the state of the art in role-playing games. In Japan, home computers had yet to take as great

21244-515: The gameplay tried and tested, and the overall feel is professional and entertaining". David Simkins reviewed the PC version of the game for Next Generation , rating it five stars out of five, and wrote that " Baldur's Gate II raises the bar for PC RPGs, elevating the genre to a new level". GameSpot and IGN felt the game was superior to its predecessor, Baldur's Gate . Computer Games Magazine and Gameplanet noted that it improved upon Baldur's Gate in almost every way. "Polish" or "polished"

21432-521: The genre-defining Phantasy Star , released for the Master System . Shigeru Miyamoto 's Zelda II: The Adventure of Link for the Famicom Disk System was one of the earliest action role-playing games , combining the action-adventure game framework of its predecessor The Legend of Zelda with the statistical elements of turn-based RPGs . Most RPGs at this time were turn-based. Faxanadu

21620-437: The guidelines, and programming constraints were not always followed by other departments, such as design and art, leading to slowdowns in some parts of the game that were difficult or impossible to fix. The process for creating levels was long and complicated. It began with the creation of a general layout of the area to be built by designers. They would pass this concept map to the artists, who added models to it, beginning with

21808-481: The hours ran from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays to Fridays, and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays. Their first crunch phase had been a normal working week, but hours of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. "As long as it takes" would be the philosophy of the last phase, encompassing the last week of development. Smedstad said that the second phase, which they were working under in July 2000,

21996-598: The hunt for targets, there won't even be time for four hours' unbroken sleep." Abstract and military board games sometimes try to capture the effect of the fog of war by hiding the identity of playing pieces, by keeping them face down or turned away from the opposing player (as in Stratego ) or covered (as in Squad Leader ). Other games, such as the Dark chess and Kriegspiel chess- variants , playing pieces could be hidden from

22184-405: The information is often fully or partially re-hidden whenever the player does not have a unit in that area. The earliest use of fog of war was in the 1977 game Empire by Walter Bright . Another early use of fog of war was the 1978 game Tanktics designed by Chris Crawford , which was criticized for its unreliable and "confusing" fog of war system. Crawford, in 1982, suggested "limit[ing]

22372-562: The interface; character kits; dual-wielding of weapons; a streamlined journal and annotable map; deathmatch; and inclusion of famous AD&D monsters such as the dragon . Not many features had to be cut, and they kept as many as they could. Because of the engine's mature state of development, most features were fairly easy to add. Co-lead designer James Ohlen wrote that having a completed engine meant they could direct their efforts towards producing content, instead of focusing on "basic functionality". Producer Ben Smedstad said that "the engine

22560-539: The key features of RPGs were developed in this early period, prior to the release of Ultima III: Exodus , one of the prime influences on both computer and console RPG development. For example, Wizardry features menu-driven combat, Tunnels of Doom features tactical combat on a special "combat screen", and Dungeons of Daggorath features real-time combat which takes place on the main dungeon map. Starting in 1984 with Questron and 50 Mission Crush , SSI produced many series of CRPGs. Their 1985 game Phantasie

22748-520: The label "JRPG" is most commonly used to refer to RPGs "whose presentation mimics the design sensibilities" of anime and manga, that it's "typically the presentation and character archetypes" that signal "this is a JRPG." Modern JRPGs are more likely to feature turn-based battles; while modern WRPGs are more likely to feature real-time combat. In the past, the reverse was often true: real-time action role-playing games were far more common among Japanese console RPGs than Western computer RPGs up until

22936-534: The largest objects and ending with small items such as individual pieces of furniture. After everything was put in place by the art team, designers took over again, inserting graphical enhancements, effects, and collision detection code. With a functional level, creatures, items, traps, and triggers were added last, then scripts were written for everything to control behavior. The team found it quite difficult to keep track of changes made to levels, and there were sometimes communication problems between different parts of

23124-437: The late 1990s had become more cinematic in style (e.g. Final Fantasy series). At the same time, WRPGs started becoming more novelistic in style (e.g. Planescape: Torment ), but by the late 2000s had also adopted a more cinematic style (e.g. Mass Effect ). One reason given for these differences is that many early Japanese console RPGs can be seen as forms of interactive manga or anime wrapped around Western rule systems at

23312-415: The late 1990s have had a stronger focus on extensive dialog tree systems (e.g. Planescape: Torment ). On the other hand, JRPGs tend to limit players to developing pre-defined player characters , and often do not allow the option to create or choose one's own playable characters or make decisions that alter the plot. In the early 1990s, JRPGs were seen as being much closer to fantasy novels , but by

23500-919: The late 1990s, due to gamepads usually being better suited to real-time action than the keyboard and mouse. Some journalists and video game designers have questioned this cultural classification, arguing that the differences between Eastern and Western games have been exaggerated. In an interview held at the American Electronic Entertainment Expo , Japanese video game developer Tetsuya Nomura (who worked on Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts ) emphasized that RPGs should not be classified by country-of-origin, but rather described simply for what they are: role-playing games. Hironobu Sakaguchi , creator of Final Fantasy and The Last Story , noted that, while "users like to categorise" JRPGs as "turn-based, traditional styles" and WRPGs as "born from first-person shooters ," there "are titles that don't fit

23688-428: The late 1990s, which saw the rise of optical disks in fifth generation consoles. The implications for RPGs were enormous—longer, more involved quests, better audio, and full-motion video . This was first clearly demonstrated in 1997 by the phenomenal success of Final Fantasy VII , which is considered one of the most influential games of all time. With a record-breaking production budget of around $ 45 million,

23876-408: The level designers had the longest set of guidelines. These lists continually changed and evolved as the development progressed. The main design guidelines for the entire project were that the players should feel like their actions have an effect on the game world, and good versus evil options should be available depending on which path the player takes. Guidelines for the story were to keep the focus on

24064-429: The lines, would have other information; for example, emotional states and directions that would guide actors to perform lines the right way. Since Black Isle Studios was near Hollywood, there was a lot of voice-over talent in the area. Roughly 50 actors would be needed, and most of the casting would be done by tape using talent they were familiar with. As producer, Parker's job would be to make sure that performances were in

24252-405: The medium to instead use simplified systems. Two large Blizzard franchises, Warcraft and StarCraft , use a fog of war which only reveals terrain features and enemy units through a player's reconnaissance . Without a unit actively observing, previously revealed areas of the map are subject to a shroud through which only terrain is visible, but changes in enemy units or bases are not. This

24440-461: The mid-1970s, as an offshoot of early university mainframe text-based RPGs on PDP-10 and Unix -based computers, such as Dungeon , pedit5 and dnd . In 1980 , a very popular dungeon crawler , Rogue , was released. Featuring ASCII graphics where the setting, monsters and items were represented by letters and a deep system of gameplay, it inspired a whole genre of similar clones on mainframe and home computers called " roguelikes ". One of

24628-591: The middle to late 1990s, isometric, sprite-based RPGs became commonplace, with video game publishers Interplay Entertainment and Blizzard North playing a lead role with such titles as the Baldur's Gate , Icewind Dale and the action-RPG Diablo series, as well as the dialogue-heavy Planescape: Torment and cult classics Fallout and Fallout 2 . This era also saw a move toward 3D game engines with such games as Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven and The Elder Scrolls: Arena . TSR , dissatisfied with SSI's later products, such as Dark Sun: Wake of

24816-576: The modern JRPG in unoriginality", citing Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada who stated that "they're strictly catering to a particular audience", the article noting the difference in game sales between Japan and North America before going on to suggest JRPGs may need to "move forward". This criticism has also occurred in the wider media with an advertisement for Fallout: New Vegas ( Obsidian Entertainment ) in Japan openly mocked Japanese RPGs' traditional characteristics in favor of their own title. Nick Doerr of Joystiq noted that Bethesda felt that JRPGs "are all

25004-421: The more fantasy novel approach of Squaresoft console RPGs such as Final Fantasy IV . However in 1994, game designer Sandy Petersen noted that, among computer gamers, there was criticism against cartridge-based console JRPGs being "not role-playing at all" due to popular examples such as Secret of Mana and especially The Legend of Zelda using "direct" arcade-style action combat systems instead of

25192-644: The more "abstract" turn-based battle systems associated with computer RPGs. In response, he pointed out that not all console RPGs are action-based, pointing to Final Fantasy and Lufia . Another early criticism, dating back to the Phantasy Star games in the late 1980s, was the frequent use of defined player characters , in contrast to the Wizardry and Gold Box games where the player's avatars (such as knights, clerics, or thieves) were blank slates. As Japanese console RPGs became increasingly more dominant in

25380-593: The most memorable villains in RPGs, and is one of the key reasons why Baldur's Gate 2 remains such an arresting experience today". Michael Hoenig , a German composer who played with Tangerine Dream , composed the game's music. He also composed the music for the first Baldur's Gate . Baldur's Gate II was announced in November 1999. The game went gold on September 14, 2000, and shipped in North America on September 21, and in Europe and Australia on September 29. Also released

25568-427: The necessity for a gamemaster and increases combat resolution speed. RPGs have evolved from simple text-based console-window games into visually rich 3D experiences. Role-playing video games use much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics as early tabletop role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons . Players control a central game character, or multiple game characters, usually called

25756-417: The next. Some reviewers, however, felt the non-player characters in the game were not as powerful as player-made characters. GameSpy said the game is much more difficult than Baldur's Gate and requires more strategy and planning than the original does. GameSpot felt the opening level of the game fell flat, but that it got much better once the player reached Athkatla. IGN noted that the introductory section of

25944-449: The now soulless protagonist loses control and transforms into a creature called the Slayer, one of the avatar forms of Bhaal. Bodhi, quite taken aback, retreats to tell Irenicus of it. The player character returns to their normal self after a short while. Soon, with the aid of Spellhold's inmates, the party battles Irenicus, forcing him to retreat. The party follows, and reaches the surface via

26132-459: The number of items that can be held. Most of the actions in an RPG are performed indirectly, with the player selecting an action and the character performing it by their own accord. Success at that action depends on the character's numeric attributes. Role-playing video games often simulate dice-rolling mechanics from non-electronic role-playing games to determine success or failure. As a character's attributes improve, their chances of succeeding at

26320-402: The opposing sides, participants in the roles of sub-unit leaders, and the use of radio sets or intercoms. A computer's ability to effectively hide information from a player is seen as a distinct advantage over board games when simulating war. Fog of war in strategy video games refers to enemy units, and often terrain, being hidden from the player; this is lifted once the area is explored, but

26508-539: The perspective of the individual and may not be easily resolved, resulting in a continuing uncertainty, a perceptual "fog". The fog of war has been decreasing as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance technology is improving. In 2016, Chief of Staff of the United States Army Gen. Mark A. Milley stated that "On the future battlefield , if you stay in one place longer than two or three hours, you will be dead... With enemy drones and sensors constantly on

26696-605: The platform divide between consoles and computers , respectively. Finally, while the first RPGs offered strictly a single player experience, the popularity of multiplayer modes rose sharply during the early to mid-1990s with action role-playing games such as Secret of Mana and Diablo . With the advent of the Internet, multiplayer games have grown to become massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG), including Lineage , Final Fantasy XI , and World of Warcraft . The role-playing video game genre began in

26884-424: The player control an entire party of characters. However, if winning is contingent upon the survival of a single character, then that character effectively becomes the player's avatar . An example of this would be in Baldur's Gate , where if the character created by the player dies, the game ends and a previous save needs to be loaded. Although some single-player role-playing games give the player an avatar that

27072-601: The player determines whether the loss of immersion in the reality of the game is worth the satisfaction gained from the development of the tactic and its successful execution. Fallout has been cited as being a good example of such a system. Real-time combat can import features from action games , creating a hybrid action RPG game genre. But other RPG battle systems such as the Final Fantasy battle systems have imported real-time choices without emphasizing coordination or reflexes. Other systems combine real-time combat with

27260-544: The player to change the party's character classes during the course of the game. Another "major innovation was the introduction of day/night cycles; certain items, characters, and quests are only accessible at certain times of day." In 1989, Phantasy Star II for the Genesis established many conventions of the genre, including an epic , dramatic, character-driven storyline dealing with serious themes and subject matter. Console RPGs distinguished themselves from computer RPGs to

27448-896: The player to manage a large amount of information and frequently make use of a windowed interface. For example, spell-casting characters will often have a menu of spells they can use. On the PC, players typically use the mouse to click on icons and menu options, while console games have the player navigate through menus using a game controller. The role-playing video game genre began in the mid-1970s on mainframe computers , inspired by pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons . Several other sources of inspiration for early role-playing video games also included tabletop wargames , sports simulation games, adventure games such as Colossal Cave Adventure , fantasy writings by authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien , traditional strategy games such as chess , and ancient epic literature dating back to Epic of Gilgamesh which followed

27636-435: The player waited more than a second or so to issue a command, the game would automatically issue a pass command, allowing the monsters to take a turn while the PCs did nothing. There is a further subdivision by the structure of the battle system; in many early games, such as Wizardry , monsters and the party are arrayed into ranks, and can only attack enemies in the front rank with melee weapons. Other games, such as most of

27824-456: The player's character, keep the player updated on the activities of the game's villain, add a significant plot twist, and make the ending of the game open enough so that there would be room for more sequels. Environment guidelines were to break the game into chapters, make some locations key to the central plot, keep areas interesting and easy to quickly navigate, and showcase areas before they were available to explore to capture player interest. For

28012-406: The player's control. Other games feature a party that the player can create at the start or gather from non-player characters in the game, coming into partial or full control of the player during the game. Although the characterization of the game's avatar will develop through storytelling, characters may also become more functionally powerful by gaining new skills, weapons, and magic. This creates

28200-695: The players by using a duplicate, hidden game board. Another version of fog of war emulation is used by block wargaming where, much like Stratego , the blocks face each player, hiding their value. However, this also allows for incremental damage, where the block is rotated up to four times to indicate battle damage before the unit is eliminated from the playing field. Solitaire games also by their nature attempt to recreate fog of war using random dice rolls or card draws to determine events. Complex double-blind miniature wargames , including military simulations , may make use of two identical maps or model landscapes, one or more referees providing limited intelligence to

28388-461: The players, to be as exciting as the Japanese imports", and lacked the arcade and action-adventure elements commonly found in Japanese console RPGs at the time. In the early 1990s, American computer RPGs also began facing criticism for their plots, where "the party sticks together through thick and thin" and always "act together as a group" rather than as individuals, and where non-player characters are "one-dimensional characters", in comparison to

28576-410: The plot when the player defeats an enemy or completes a level, role-playing games often progress the plot based on other important decisions. For example, a player may make the decision to join a guild, thus triggering a progression in the storyline that is usually irreversible. New elements in the story may also be triggered by mere arrival in an area, rather than completing a specific challenge. The plot

28764-569: The port town of Brynnlaw and the asylum Spellhold; the Underdark ; the city of Suldanessellar ; and the Astral Plane . There are also other places, which may be explored: the Umar Hills, where people have been disappearing; a temple ruins, fallen under the shadow of the Shade Lord; the de'Arnise Keep, home of the de'Arnises but recently overrun by trolls; the town of Trademeet, under attack by animals;

28952-437: The precursor to Ultima . Some early microcomputer RPGs (such as Telengard (1982) or Sword of Fargoal ) were based on their mainframe counterparts, while others (such as Ultima or Wizardry , the most successful of the early CRPGs) were loose adaptations of D&D . They also include both first-person displays and overhead views, sometimes in the same game ( Akalabeth , for example, uses both perspectives). Most of

29140-475: The prison and had planned all along to bring the protagonist there. Irenicus then subjects the protagonist to a ritual, taking the latter's soul. Imoen, who turns out to be a Child of Bhaal as well, had earlier undergone Irenicus's ritual, and her soul has gone to Bodhi, Irenicus's sister. Bodhi then abandons the party to the maze beneath Spellhold, so that she can hunt them after a span of time, saying also, as bait, that Irenicus may yet be foiled. When they face her,

29328-621: The problems often cited against JRPGs also often apply to many WRPGs as well as games outside of the RPG genre. BioWare games have been criticized for "lack of innovation, repetitive structure and lack of real choice." WRPGs, such as Bethesda games, have also been criticized for lacking in "narrative strength" or "mechanical intricacy" due to the open-ended, sandbox structure of their games. Fog of war#Simulations and games The term has become commonly used to define uncertainty mechanics in wargames . The word "fog" ( German : Nebel ), but not

29516-535: The protagonist's history further, and, being the final chapter, concludes the Baldur's Gate saga. It also added a variety of features to the base game: a new dungeon called Watcher's Keep, which can be accessed from both Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal ; new features and enhancements, such as high-level class abilities, a higher experience point cap, and the Wild Mage character class; and new items and spells. Reviewers generally praised Throne of Bhaal and thought it

29704-408: The right spirit; the studio would handle the technical side of things. Sometimes, different lines would be tried to see what sounded better, and if that version ended up being used, the text in the game would have to be changed to match it. English actor David Warner provided the voice for Jon Irenicus; PC Gamer observed that "his commanding portrayal of the arrogant elven mage made Irenicus one of

29892-409: The right things to the right non-player characters will elicit useful information for the player, and may even result in other rewards such as items or experience, as well as opening up possible storyline branches. Multiplayer online role-playing games can offer an exception to this contrast by allowing human interaction among multiple players and in some cases enabling a player to perform the role of

30080-436: The same basic structure of setting off in various quests in order to accomplish goals. After the success of role-playing video games such as Ultima and Wizardry , which in turn served as the blueprint for Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy , the role-playing genre eventually diverged into two styles, Eastern role-playing games and Western role-playing games , due to cultural differences , though roughly mirroring

30268-492: The same style as those in manga and anime . The stylistic differences are often due to differing target audiences: Western RPGs are usually geared primarily towards teenage to adult males, whereas Japanese RPGs are usually intended for a much larger demographic, including female audiences , who, for example, accounted for nearly a third of Final Fantasy XIII 's playerbase. In 2015, IGN noted in an interview with Xenoblade Chronicles X 's development team that

30456-598: The same" and "too linear", to which he responded that "[f]or the most part, it's true" but noted there are also non-linear JRPGs such as the Romancing SaGa series. Such criticisms have produced responses such as ones by Japanese video game developers , Shinji Mikami and Yuji Horii , to the effect that JRPGs were never as popular in the West to begin with, and that Western reviewers are biased against turn-based systems. Jeff Fleming of Gamasutra also states that Japanese RPGs on home consoles are generally showing signs of staleness, but notes that handheld consoles such as

30644-417: The suggestions of fans on message boards and newsgroups, reviews of Baldur's Gate , and internal suggestions, a list of constructive criticism was compiled; from this list, a slightly shorter one of features to be added to the game was made. Some of the items on this list were: support for higher resolutions, such as 800 by 600 pixels and above; 3D support; non-pausing dialogue in multiplayer; drop off panels in

30832-439: The team, such as the artists and designers, resulting in inconsistencies between their work. Co-executive producer Ray Muzyka wrote that "they learned to make sure all elements of the team are talking to each other and working as a group, rather than as a bunch of individuals!" They did feel they had done a good job automating the level creation process, as levels were rapidly designed. Muzyka also said that "a designer might submit

31020-496: The term 'JRPG,' but if this game makes people rethink the meaning of this term, I'll be satisfied." The writer Jeremy Parish of 1UP.com states that " Xenoblade throws into high relief the sheer artificiality of the gaming community's obsession over the differences between" Western and Japanese RPGs, pointing out that it "does things that don't really fit into either genre. Gamers do love their boundaries and barriers and neat little rules, I know, but just because you cram something into

31208-503: The time, in addition to the influence of visual novel adventure games . As a result, Japanese console RPGs differentiated themselves with a stronger focus on scripted narratives and character drama, alongside streamlined gameplay. In recent years, these trends have in turn been adopted by WRPGs, which have begun moving more towards tightly structured narratives, in addition to moving away from "numbers and rules" in favor of streamlined combat systems similar to action games. In addition,

31396-505: The top 10 in January 2001. The combined global sales of Baldur's Gate , Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast , and Baldur's Gate II surpassed 3.5 million copies by March 2001. Baldur's Gate II alone reached almost 1.5 million sales by December 2002, and more than 2 million by November 2005. According to the NPD Group , the game totaled 480,000 sales ($ 19.6 million) in the United States by August 2006. At that time, Edge declared it

31584-583: The traditional role-playing " offered by Japanese console RPGs, which instead emphasized character interactions. In response, North American computer RPGs began making a comeback towards the end of the 1990s with interactive choice-filled adventures. Several writers have criticized JRPGs as not being "true" RPGs, for heavy usage of scripted cutscenes and dialogue, and a frequent lack of branching outcomes. Japanese RPGs are also sometimes criticized for having relatively simple battle systems in which players are able to win by repetitively mashing buttons. As

31772-509: The typical Western-style RPGs of the time. Due to the cultural differences between Western and Japanese variations of role-playing games, both have often been compared and critiqued by those within the video games industry and press. In the late 1980s, when traditional American computer RPGs such as Ultima and Defender of the Crown were ported to consoles, they received mixed reviews from console gamers, as they were "not perceived, by many of

31960-432: The underground complex, learning more and more of their captor's despicable character and that his name is Irenicus . At length, escaping the complex, they emerge into the city of Athkatla and witness Irenicus fighting off some of his attackers, whom he destroys. An argument then ensues, during which Imoen angrily attacks Irenicus using magic. The Cowled Wizards appear and, after a fight, arrest both Irenicus and Imoen for

32148-448: The underlying game mechanics (e.g. "rules-based" or "system-based" ); whereas JRPGs tend to feature brighter, anime -like or chibi graphics, younger characters, turn-based or faster-paced action gameplay, and a greater focus on tightly-orchestrated, linear storylines with intricate plots (e.g. "action-based" or "story-based" ). Further, WRPGs are more likely to allow players to create and customize characters from scratch, and since

32336-459: The unsanctioned use of magic, and teleport both of them away. In the slums of Athkatla, a man named Gaelan Bayle offers the party the help of a powerful organization, who can find Imoen or Irenicus for the large sum of 20,000 gold pieces. The party is approached by and offered the help of another rival guild headed by Bodhi; it is the player's choice whom to side with. Meanwhile, Imoen and Irenicus have been removed to an asylum called Spellhold, which

32524-428: The world and overall story". Cutscenes had been used in Baldur's Gate , but were employed "more effectively" in Shadows of Amn . Another technique was to increase, to a greater degree than Baldur's Gate , the interactivity of the characters that travel with the player. While the characters in Baldur's Gate possessed "banter", there was a very great increase of this in Shadows of Amn , but was not merely an increase in

32712-549: Was a Collector's Edition, which included the game, a cloth map, eight character-trading cards, a Black Isle Studios writing tablet, and an additional CD containing unique armor and weapons as well as music from the soundtrack. A Macintosh version was ported by MumboJumbo and released on October 15, 2001. Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal , an expansion pack for Shadows of Amn , was developed by BioWare and published by Black Isle Studios, and released in June 2001. Throne of Bhaal takes

32900-402: Was a description applied to the game by some reviewers. RPGamer, somewhat more critical of the game than others, concluded: "Maybe it's a bit thin in some areas, but it's still an exemplary game that is well worth the time invested". Baldur's Gate II ' s gameplay was called "addicting" by GamePro . RPGamer said that while the game was generally the same as the original Baldur's Gate ,

33088-470: Was a friend of Gorion's; Minsc , a warrior who carries with him a hamster named Boo; Edwin, a Red Wizard of Thay; and Viconia, a dark elf cleric. There are also many new NPCs who may join the party: Aerie, a winged elf who has lost her wings and was sold to the circus by slavers at a young age; Keldorn, an older paladin and a powerful and respected member of the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart; Mazzy, an honorable halfling fighter and "the nearest thing to

33276-446: Was a theme that was common in most console RPGs at the time but absent from most computer RPGs. During the 1990s, console RPGs had become increasingly dominant, exerting a greater influence on computer RPGs than the other way around. Console RPGs had eclipsed computer RPGs for some time, though computer RPGs began making a comeback towards the end of the decade with interactive choice-filled adventures. The next major revolution came in

33464-448: Was another early action RPG for the NES, released as a side-story to the computer action RPG Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu . Square 's Final Fantasy for the NES introduced side-view battles, with the player characters on the right and the enemies on the left, which soon became the norm for numerous console RPGs. In 1988, Dragon Warrior III introduced a character progression system allowing

33652-433: Was compounded by the fact that we didn't do enough testing as areas were being developed". The game contained about 290 quests, each of which had to be tested in both single- and multi-player modes. BioWare used a method, introduced to them by Feargus Urquhart , Douglas Avery, and Chris Parker of Black Isle Studios, in which the game's quests were listed on whiteboards, with a cross placed beside each quest. Pairs consisting of

33840-471: Was determined that the designers should be allowed "adequate time" so that the game might "reach its full potential". Throughout its development, BioWare focused "on ensuring that Baldur's Gate II is significantly better than Baldur's Gate in every way possible, and to make it appeal not only to fans of the original game but also to make it accessible to new fans who never played the original game". Development of Baldur's Gate II began in January 1999. From

34028-399: Was developed by BioWare and published by Black Isle Studios , a division of Interplay Entertainment . The game uses the same Infinity Engine as Baldur's Gate (1998), but with many improvements. Other games that used this engine were Black Isle Studios' Planescape: Torment (1999) and Icewind Dale (2000). BioWare dedicated Baldur's Gate II to Daniel Walker, who died in 1999 and

34216-425: Was improved further in Shadows of Amn through a feature called "bumping", which allowed a character to move another one out of the way if the path was blocked. Also, to aid pathfinding even more, paths in dungeons were widened, so that characters would get stuck less often. The interface was also refined a bit. To avoid some of the design mistakes made in Baldur's Gate , guidelines were drawn up for each department;

34404-415: Was made in 1896 in a book titled The Fog of War by Sir Lonsdale Augustus Hale, where it is described as "the state of ignorance in which commanders frequently find themselves as regards the real strength and position, not only of their foes, but also of their friends." The fog of war is a reality in all military conflict. Precision and certainty are unattainable goals, but modern military doctrine suggests

34592-407: Was released, carrying the title Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition and using an updated version of the Infinity Engine. A sequel, Baldur's Gate 3 , developed by Larian Studios , was released in 2023. Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition computer role-playing game . The central quest of the game consists of about 50 to 60 hours of play, while

34780-430: Was somewhere between Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale in terms of depth. RPGamer's reviewer, on the other hand, felt that the plot was lackluster, but approved of the side quests, which, he said, could turn into "minor epics" of their own. The game's graphics were well received. GamePro praised them, saying that "the backdrops are stunning and the spell effects are impressive". IGN echoed this statement, calling

34968-439: Was the company's second employee. Though a success, both commercially and critically, Baldur's Gate was the first role-playing game designed by BioWare, and they applied what they learned in the process to Baldur's Gate II . They also felt they did not have enough time to reach their design goals with the first game, due to developing both the content of the game and the Infinity Engine at the same time. In Baldur's Gate II , it

35156-530: Was the first such attempt to recreate a role-playing game for a console, and requires several simplifications to fit within the more limited memory and capabilities of the Famicom compared to computers; players in Dragon Quest controlled only a single character, the amount of control over this character limited due to the simplicity of the Famicom controller, and a less-realistic art style was chosen to better visualize

35344-422: Was up and running since day one, which is a huge morale booster. When a monster is complete, we put it into the 'override' directory and it appears in the game! This is a huge change from working on the original". Late in the project, deathmatch was removed, while non-pausing dialogue, which proved "the most problematic feature", was removed early on before being reintroduced in early 2000. Baldur's Gate II reused

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