What's New?

The Settings

Bioware brought several staff on stage to describe what's new in Baldur's Gate 2. The first thing they noted is that the setting has changed slightly. BG2 takes place just a bit further south of the original game, so now you're deep in the heart of Amn, but still close to the water of the Sword Coast. You'll find cities and settings even more detailed and extensive than what you found in BG1 - these include the capital city of Amn - Athkatla, which has a slum section, and a government area among others. There will also be an undersea city, pirate islands (ship battles!), trips to the astral plain, a visit to hell, a forested elven civilization, and perhaps most exciting, the Underdark. D&D players know that the Underdark is the realm of the Drow whose most notable "citizen" is the famous Drizzt. Will Drizzt be making an appearance? Bioware was a bit tight lipped about that, and the Underdark in general but they did show us a sketch of the place - it looked impressively detailed and intricate. So what won't you see? The many empty, and seemingly useless sections of map that you had to traverse in BG1 - Bioware has responded to its user base by eliminating much of the "dead space" in between your adventures. Of course, the increase in movement speed will help a lot also.

Burn, baby burn

Unseen enemies

More story

The main focus of Baldur's Gate 2 will be the incredible amount of added scripting and dialogue that Bioware is adding in to the game. There will be a total of 15 characters that you can add to your party in Baldur's Gate 2 (the limit is still 6 including yourself, at any given time). What's amazing is that each single character in BG2 will have as much dialog and scripting as all the characters in BG1 combined. Wow! Your party members will strike up more natural and more engaging conversation with you and the other characters. Betrayal, friendship, and romantic relationships are possibilities with a dialogue engine that allows much more branching possibilities than the one in the original BG.

Looks creepy in there

Love the architecture

How else are they going to use all the extra dialogue? Look for your party members to react to changing environments, like when you step into a cave, or when the weather suddenly changes. One of the characters gets very annoyed when it rains, for example, and will complain heavily if you don't stop for cover. They'll even commend or question your leadership decisions - if you accept an assignment for a shady job or a murder, don't expect your paladin to go along with it without squawking or possibly walking out on you.

Along those lines, Bioware emphasized that they want characters to have more depth, and that they shouldn't just serve as pawns for your convenience. Each of the characters has his/her own backstory and subplots, and they don't just end abruptly after you meet them. Remember Minsc and his hamster from BG1, and how that whole dynamic stopped evolving once you assimilated him into your party? That won't happen anymore because BG2's characters have ongoing lives and responsibilities - at times, those outside lives will draw them away from your party, forcing you to choose to help them or deal with their absence for a period of time.