My dear modern rpg players... This is exactly what gaming community needs at this point. Modern ''hack and slash'' rpgs like Dragon Age 2 have taken the creativity and freedom from our hands and forced us to limited stories and play styles. Even one of the best rpgs suffer from this: Skyrim (without mods) dont offer any sort of story that you can feel attached to, even main quest has simply become a chore to do, and sidequests simply became an mmorpg quests compared to earlier games of the series (Like Oblivion's Dark Brotherhood quests now THAT is a piece of art).
I am not going to talk about how Baldur's Gate games are the best or something like that, since i am only roughly 10 hours into the game, and i have never played the game before, except seeing my elders playing it from time to time back then when it was popular. However i can talk about the care that was given to this game. All of your companions have their backstories and proper aims that you can relate to somehow. Quests are really fun to do, there are loads of varierities also: One moment you are going to a city to solve a problem in mines and few minutes later you find a chicken that speaks. That is awesome if you care about the fun stuff rather than graphics.
Graphics are not the strong part of the game due to its age, but game's looks are more than acceptable when that age is considered. Controls and gameplay however are more than acceptable, when considered to modern rpg games of this kind like Pillars of Eternity. Soundtrack is, although bit repetetive at times, is good but i would recommend using shift tab to listen some custom rpg soundtracks.
Like i said i have only played the game for few hours, yet my friends who played this game tell me that story is really interesting, and considering the care which was given for side quests i will consider that true, but i will update the review once i finish the main storyline.
I can imagine myself spending my entire summer holiday trying to grind whatever quest there are and simply not leaving my room like a true nerd that i am. Game is also very easy to run. You can download it to your laptop and have fun wherever you go. I think there is even a mobile version.
However if you think that deep written rpgs are not your thing and doubt whether you like this game or not, i would suggest asking yourself which of the following game are better: Fallout New Vegas or Fallout 3 (or Dragon Age Origins VS Dragon Age Inquisition) . If your answer is the latter, you might very well pass the game, however if your answer is the former and you have never played a game like this; Congratulations, you have found your new favourite game.
You see a good rpg game doesnt only give you new swords and armours, it also asks a question. The question is not just Good or evil, that is simple, In Fallout:NV question was whether you would pick Authoritianism or Democracy, and i could see myself 2 sides making good arguments, in Dragon Age: Origins it was smaller moral dilemnas that lead to a one great answer. A simple is sidequest is not only a simple sidequest in a good rpg game. Unlike other games, Rpg games expect you to actually learn who you really are in the way of simple texts in the screen.
Almost 20 years after its release game still can be considered a fresh air in these dark times of dlcs and repetitive quests and stories.
Game is currently on a sale right now, and i would suggest every rpg fan to buy this game. A ''must have'' as you can imagine.Some of my friends told me that price is a bit high in their countries,but thankfully this is not the case for me.