So I love Baldur's Gate 3, so I bought this. I have to admit I can't even figure out how to play this. Beat on a Mud Mephit for about 10 minutes and although it was unco0ncious, I never could kill it or get through the door at the end of the hallway. I think I'll try Divinity Original Sin 2 instead as it has the same game engine as BG3.

Baldur's Gate II is so good that it has left me incapable of acknowledging Larian Studios' followup as a valid installment to the series. I've played nearly 200 hours, and yet, I've had to desperately implore myself— like Bruce Banner negotiating with The Hulk in the mirror— NOT to go back to test differing character builds and narrative outcomes so that I can go on to experience other classics. This review is completely bias and I do not care: play this title before you eclipse your life expectancy.

Oh wow, I can't believe that I never wrote a review for this game..

I've played the Baldur's Gate franchise ever since it's original release on CDs back in the 90s.. Every year or so I do another playthrough.
To me this is peak CRPG, very likely since I've got extreme nostalgic glasses when looking at my own experiences, but the game system does work well, it allows both for turn-based combat and (my personal favorite Real-Time with Pause).
A limitation lies in it's core ruleset complexity as it's based on D&D 2.5e and the THAC0 system definitely has it's flaws.

There are of course other core rules/mechanics that are debated as well but I won't get into the finer nuances
I find the complexity fun as it enables players to really find synergies and can get really nerdy about min-maxing builds should they want.
-But it is definitely not needed. As a young kid with no insight into the finer details other than realizing that -armor value is better I could still learn and navigate the game fine. The Enhanced Edition is, in my opinion, an upgrade over the original. Both with a lot of bug fixes and tweaks, but also the ease of use on modern systems and it's smooth multiplayer support.

The new content seem to be either a hit or miss for the most part in the community, for me it's a hit. New interesting characters with some new quest lines are rarely bad in my book and they're not terribly written or remove from the original story so they're absolutely fine for me.

I feel pretty much the same thing for the Enhanced Editions of Baldur's Gate II and Icewind Dale (A real shame the source material for IWD 2 is gone forever), so I will simply copy this portion of the review for those games as well.

When it comes to the Baldur's Gate 2 story (without spoiling anything) I think that the actors have done a great job providing us with interesting antagonists and a deepening of the lore continuing the main focus of the first game, and it does so without it feeling repetitive.

This title, just like

Oh wow, I can't believe that I never wrote a review for this game..

I've played Baldur's Gate ever since it's original release on CDs back in the 90s.. Every year or so I do another playthrough.
To me this is peak CRPG, very likely since I've got extreme nostalgic glasses when looking at my own experiences, but the game system does work well, it allows both for turn-based combat and (my personal favorite Real-Time with Pause).
A limitation lies in it's core ruleset complexity as it's based on D&D 2.5e and the THAC0 system definitely has it's flaws.

There are of course other core rules/mechanics that are debated as well but I won't get into the finer nuances
I find the complexity fun as it enables players to really find synergies and can get really nerdy about min-maxing builds should they want.
-But it is definitely not needed. As a young kid with no insight into the finer details other than realizing that -armor value is better I could still learn and navigate the game fine. The Enhanced Edition is, in my opinion, an upgrade over the original. Both with a lot of bug fixes and tweaks, but also the ease of use on modern systems and it's smooth multiplayer support.

The new content seem to be either a hit or miss for the most part in the community, for me it's a hit. New interesting characters with some new quest lines are rarely bad in my book and they're not terribly written or remove from the original story so they're absolutely fine for me.

I feel pretty much the same thing for the Enhanced Editions of Baldur's Gate I and Icewind Dale (A real shame the source material for IWD 2 is gone forever), so I will simply copy this portion of the review for those games as well.

The story itself is a great continuation of the saga, it starts off where you left off in BG1, and as such I think that this was the first game ever to implement this mechanic (that BioWare then continued with in other IPs). That means that hopping into BG2 will be a higher leveled adventure from the start. So if the BG1 story doesn't interest you but you still enjoy the world and game mechanics BG2 might still be for you.

Sped run this ahead of BG3. Frankly the story, real time combat, larger party size, and more Good/Evil characters and recruitment are awesome.

One of the greatest sagas to be written. Loved the first game and this takes it to another level.

It's got an interesting story and cool mechanics. Highly recommend!