As a massive fan of Baldur's Gate 1&2 I was sceptical of how good a new entry could be when it's developed by a completely new entity. Suffice to say I was more than impressed.
There's quite a lot this game has going for it if you've played the originals. There are all sorts of callbacks and call-forwards to the previous and subsequent games and even to other Infinity Engine RPGs of the era. Many characters from BG1 make an appearance, and given the thinner writing on party members in the first game some of them get their first real times to shine. The new party members are quite enjoyable, and the story for the most part is pretty good.
Sadly the story contains my two biggest issues: first that the end of the game can feel like you've suddenly been railroaded into a no-win scenario, which is sensible given it needs to set up Baldur's Gate 2, and the endings can still feel varied because of the actions of your party members and NPCs to how you are railroaded, so to speak. Second is that the villain's plot comes off as somewhat contrived, given the willingness of hordes of gullible masses to follow what is by all accounts a fool's errand with no hope of success. These two aspects aren't deal breakers by any means though, the game is still fantastic!
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