Diablo II (w/ Expansion) vs Baldour's Gate (newest one) (1 Viewer)

[Gregg Hart]

I have been a fan of Diablo II and love it more with the expansion. I have never played Baldour's Gate before and was wondering how they compare. Anyone want to explain some of the diffs between them?

 

[Kenneth]

The easier part is to compare the two games directly. I will compare them as single player games since I haven't played either in multiplayer mode.
Diablo II is kind of an action/RPG. It is heavily focused on leveling, treasure acquisition, and is almost constant combat. There is little real NPC interaction and the few NPC's are all located at the starting location for each level.
Baldur's Gate II is a fairly faithful RPG adaptation. There is lots of NPC interaction and they are scattered all over the game map. It follows the D&D style of play and as such is much more complex than Diablo II in character development. Because NPC's can join the party of the main character the combat is more complex than in Diablo II and can require a fair amount of strategy to complete some encounters.
Both games have pretty impressive graphics, but Baldur's Gate II has better overall graphics and supports a rather impressive collection of 3D spell effects. BGII can also be played in resolutions up to 1600x1280 whereas DII only supports 800x600 and only in the expansion.
As an expansion DII might have more gameplay because of the two new classes that require playing the entire game again. However, the one add on area to DII is probably a little smaller than the BGII additional areas. As to overall gameplay if you play through everything in both games, including the expansions, then BGII has alot more depth. Usually you can play through DII in a couple of days to a couple of weeks, depending on how much time you invest in it. BGII has an enormous number of side quests (including the romance quests) that literally ate up my free time for months.
I personally like both games but I prefer DII when I want to go with an action game that doesn't require a lot of planning or thought. I prefer BGII when I want to experience a deeper more fullfilling game.
Kenneth
[Edited last by Kenneth on July 11, 2001 at 04:46 PM]

 

[Gregg Hart]

Kenneth - Excellent disciption. Thank you. I do love D2 and after hearing your desciption I will stick with D2. I love a good thinking game that requires strategy, but after working a full-time job and going to lawschool 5 nights a week, my brain wants nothing to do with strategy. I just want to kill things and not have to plan anything to do it. That's why I am a Barb, just have to run in and wack things till they die.

Gregg
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My Home Theater

 

[Kenneth]

Glad to help Gregg. I am enjoying the Assassin in DII for that rush in and hack effect. The allowing the hireling in DII to carry forward definitely helps the melee specialists in DII. The Barbarian and Assassin can now use the archer very effectively in most situations. My hireling actually has a better defense than I do and works out well with her cold arrows.
Kenneth