Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn

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Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
Developer(s)	BioWare
Publisher(s)	Black Isle Studios
Designer(s)	James Ohlen (Director of Writing and Design at BioWare; Lead Designer) and Kevin Martens (Lead Designer)
Composer(s)	Michael Hoenig
Series	Baldur's Gate
Engine	Infinity
Version	23037
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Macintosh
Release date(s)	September 24, 2000 Windows NA September 24, 2000 PAL September 29, 2000 Macintosh NA September 2001
Genre(s)	Computer role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ELSPA: 15+ ESRB: T OFLC: M
Media/distribution	4 CD-ROMs, 1 DVD-ROM, download
System requirements 233 MHz CPU 32 MB RAM 4 MB DirectX-certified video card 4x CD-ROM drive DirectX 7.0 750 MB available hard disk space Windows 95

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is a computer role-playing game developed by BioWare and published by Black Isle Studios. It is the sequel to Baldur's Gate, and was released for Microsoft Windows in September 2000. Like Baldur's Gate, the game is set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting and is based on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition rule set. The game uses BioWare's Infinity Engine, used also in Baldur's Gate, Black Isle's Planescape: Torment, and Black Isle's Icewind Dale series.

Baldur's Gate II opens shortly after the events of Baldur's Gate, and continues the story of the player character, Gorion's Ward, whose unique heritage has now gained him or her the attention of a new personage, Jon Irenicus. The game's plot revolves around the player character's encounters with Irenicus, and its setting is mainly Amn, in and around the city of Athkatla.

The game received critical acclaim upon its release; in that year, GameSpy, GameSpot, and IGN each awarded Baldur's Gate II its "Role-Playing Game of the Year" award. According to BioWare, it has sold over two million units.^[1] In 2001, an expansion pack, entitled Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, was released, which, being the final instalment, concludes the Child of Bhaal history.

On March 15, 2012, a remake of Baldur's Gate II was announced, titled Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition, which will feature an updated version of the Infinity Engine. It is scheduled for release in the summer of 2012.^[2]

Gameplay

An instance of dialogue in the game. The interface and isometric perspective are also seen.

Shadows of Amn focuses on exploration of the game world, interaction, through dialogue or combat, with the characters and creatures of that world, the completing of quests, the furthering of the main plot, and management of the player's group of adventurers. The game uses the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition rules, though with some modifications. It is played from an isometric perspective, and the screen, which is not locked to the main character, as in games such as Diablo or Neverwinter Nights, is scrolled with the mouse or the keyboard. The gameplay, though in real-time, can be paused: in which state commands may be issued to controllable characters, who, on the game's being unpaused, will attempt to execute them. The game can also be set to pause automatically at certain times.

The game begins with character creation,^[3] where, through a series of configuration screens, the player creates a player character protagonist, choosing such things as character class, abilities, skills, and alignment. Alternatively, the player can import an existing character from Baldur's Gate or Tales of the Sword Coast. Once in the game world, the player may recruit non-player characters (NPCs) to travel with him or her, though only five may do so at a time. The recruited NPCs often converse with the player or with one another, and at times interject into the player's conversations with others. Bickering, romance, and side-quests can all result, depending on who is present in the group.

The player interacts with the game world by clicking on characters and objects. There are shops from which items can be bought, and inns to rest in.^[4] Resting is frequently needed because the characters in the party are often wounded and sometimes fatigued; also, resting allows a character to memorise spells. A thief character may be used to detect and disarm traps; thieves are also able to unlock some containers and doors. The journal tracks important information, such as quests and the game's plot,^[5] while the inventory page is used to manage and equip items,^[6] and the record screen to view or level up characters in the party.^[7] When a character gains the necessary experience points, he or she gains a level.^[8] Experience points are awarded for certain player actions, such as killing enemies or completing quests.^[9]

Dialogue is an important element of the game. It may be started by NPCs at scripted times, or by the player's clicking on NPCs who are not immediately hostile. When speaking to an NPC, the player must often choose what to say from a list of responses. Dialogue may lead to quests or important information. The reputation of the party is affected by the PC's moral actions, and, along with the party leader's charisma attribute, affects how characters in the game world react to the PC.^[10] The characters in the party will also complain if the party's reputation conflicts with their alignment.^[11] At some point in the game, the player may join or take over a stronghold. The type of stronghold is determined by PC's class, e.g., mage, fighter, thief, etc.

Movement and exploration

The player moves through locations in the world by directing members of the party in the isometric view, which depicts a localised area, such as the streets of a city district or the corridors of a dungeon. Areas that have not been visited are blackened out,^[12] encouraging the player to discover what is in that part of the map. Of the explored sections, a fog of war is in effect; terrain and buildings are always visible to the player; however, NPCs and hostile beings are only visible if they are within the direct line of sight of controllable characters. Characters see up to a certain distance, and cannot see what is around buildings.^[13] The player can arrange the party to move in a formation, helping to ensure weaker characters are protected from danger.^[14]

When the party reaches the boundary of a map, the player is presented with the World Map, and is able to move to other important places, like towns, forests, or named locations divulged by characters.^[15] Travel between locations is abstracted; though the game immediately switches to the new location, within the game world some time has elapsed. When travelling between locations, there is some chance the party may be ambushed, which places the party in some temporary place until combat is resolved and the characters leave the area, whereupon the location is no longer accessible.

Combat

Combat in Baldur's Gate II follows the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules,^[16] using such things as THAC0, armour class, and simulated die rolls.^[17] Rather than a group-based turn, each character's action timing is determined individually, as the game runs in real-time.^[18] With the exception of sorcerors, magic users must memorise spells before they can be cast.^[19][20] Spellcasting takes time and may be disrupted by attacks or other spells.^[21] The game includes many character sub-classes, or kits, which have special advantages and disadvantages.^[22] A cavalier, for instance, which is a sub-type of the paladin character class, has advantages against monsters such as dragons and demons, but cannot use missile weapons.^[23]

Multiplayer

The game also has a multiplayer mode, in which up to six human players can adventure through the game, controlling player-made characters as well as recruited NPCs.^[24] The content of the game is otherwise the same,^[25] with one of the players controlling the protagonist.

Plot

Setting

In the Government District, Athkatla, are the Council of Six building, the Prison, and the estates of the rich nobility.

The Forgotten Realms, the high fantasy campaign setting in which Baldur's Gate II is set, is a fictional world, perhaps similar to a medieval Earth, but having its own peoples, geography, and history. In the Realms (as its inhabitants refer to it) fantastic creatures and mythical peoples are a not uncommon sight; and magic is an art practised by many. The gods of the Realms are, like those of ancient Greece, many and varied, though individuals tend to follow one deity or another; for instance, paladins may follow Tyr or Helm, whereas a mage, or wizard, may be a follower of Mystra. Some famous personages of the Realms include Elminster, the Sage of Shadowdale; Drizzt Do'Urden, the celebrated drow ranger of Icewind Dale; and Volothamp Geddarm, master traveller and gazetteer, and author of the censured "Volo's Guide to All Things Magical."

Baldur's Gate II takes place mainly in Amn, a country on the subcontinent of Faerûn. This country, known commonly as the Merchant Kingdom,^[26] lies south of Baldur's Gate; and wealth being the chief concern of the region, trade and economy are the driving forces in it.^[27] The capital city of Athkatla, around which a fair portion of the game revolves, is the most important in Amn, and is ruled by the anonymous Council of Six, though the local thieves' guild, the Shadow Thieves, has also considerable power in it.^[28] The Shadow Thieves, though operating all along the Sword Coast,^[29] are based in Athkatla.^[30] Another powerful organisation in Amn are the Cowled Wizards, who regulate the use of magic in the region.^[31] Besides Athkatla, there are other places the player will pass through: an island, on which stands both the port town of Brynnlaw and the asylum Spellhold; the Underdark; the city of Suldanessellar; and, for a short while, Hell. There are also other places, which, if the player accepts certain quests, or depending on his or her choices, may be explored. These are the Umar Hills, where people have been disappearing; a temple ruins, fallen under the shadow of the Shade Lord; the de'Arnise Keep, home of the de'Arnises, but recently overrun by trolls; the town of Trademeet, being attacked by animals; a druid grove, connected with Trademeet's woes; the Windspear Hills, where the player becomes entangled in the intrigues of Firkraag, a dragon; the underwater Sahuagin city; and the Planar Prison.

Baldur's Gate II is set in the year 1369 DR,^[32] or Dale Reckoning, and thus takes place not long after the Time of Troubles (1358 DR), when, the Tablets of Fate having been stolen, the gods walked the land as mortals.^[33] (In fact, the protagonist has some connection with the Time of Troubles; see below.)

Characters

During the Time of Troubles the gods walked the land as mortals.^[34] Bhaal, the then God of Murder, foresaw the Time and its leading to his doom, and walked the land before it.^[34] He left behind him a score of mortal progeny, whose later deaths, when they were slain by heroes, should fuel his rebirth.^[34] The game's protagonist is one of these offspring;^[34] but, through the choices of the player, his path may be either good or evil. He grew up in the library fortress of Candlekeep, his guardian being the mage Gorion.^[34] Imoen was his childhood friend,^[34] and accompanied him on his adventure along the Sword Coast, where he learned of his heritage, and at length defeated his half-brother Sarevok, also a child of Bhaal.^[34]

Some notable characters in Shadows of Amn are Gaelan Bayle, who offers the party the help of the Shadow Thieves; Aran Linvail, the leader of the Shadow Thieves; Saemon Havarian, a sailor of doubtful loyalties, who is commissioned to sail the party to an island; Adalon, a silver dragon whose eggs have been stolen by drow; Elhan, the leader of Suldanessellar's military forces; and Queen Ellesime, the ruler of Suldanessellar.^[35] Of the hostile characters, Jon Irenicus and his sister Bodhi are chief, Irenicus being the main antagonist. They were once elves of Suldanessellar but, attempting to become gods, endangered their fellow elves; their elfhood was taken from them, and they were exiled from the city. The Forgotten Realms canon character Drizzt Do'Urden also makes an appearance; and if the player solicits his aid, he and his companions will later help the player at a certain point.

In Baldur's Gate II, several characters from the first game make an appearance again, and some are NPCs who can join the player's party. These are: Imoen, who has become dual classed to a Mage/Thief;^[36] Minsc, a warrior who carries with him a hamster named Boo;^[37] Jaheira, who, with her husband Khalid, was a friend of Gorion;^[38] Edwin, a Red Wizard of Thay;^[39] and Viconia, a dark elf cleric.^[40] According to the game, the party at the end of Baldur's Gate included the player character, Imoen, Minsc, Dynaheir, Jaheira, and Khalid. There are also many new NPCs who may join the party. These are Aerie, a winged elf who, at a young age, was captured by slavers and sold to the circus, and has lost her wings;^[41] Keldorn, an older paladin who is a respected member of the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart; Mazzy, an honourable halfling fighter who leads an adventuring group called the Fentan Knights; Nalia, the daughter of a duke, and who tries to help the less fortunate;^[42] Valygar, who is of a family noted for its talented magic-users, but hates the art;^[43] Anomen, another member of the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart, and whose wish is to become a full knight;^[44] Cernd, a druid;^[45] Haer'Dalis, a tiefling bard and member of an acting troupe; Jan, a gnome of the Jansen family;^[46] Yoshimo, a thief from the land of Kara-Tur;^[47] and Korgan, a dwarven fighter of evil alignment.^[48]

Story

Shortly after the events of Baldur's Gate, the player character's party is ambushed, and taken captive. The game opens with the PC awakening in a cage. They are being experimented upon by a wizard, whose name, it is later learned, is Jon Irenicus. The PC eventually escapes from the underground complex with some of their companions, including Imoen, a childhood friend. The group of adventurers find themselves in the city of Athkatla. Irenicus and Imoen are arrested by a group of Cowled Wizards for having used magic, which is strictly controlled in the region around the city, and teleported away.

In the slums of Athkatla, a man named Gaelan Bayle offers the party the help of associates of his, who can rescue Imoen for a large sum. To raise the sum, which amounts to 20,000 gold pieces, the party adventures through Athkatla and the surrounding lands. At length, they are approached by and offered the help of another rival organisation, at whose head is Bodhi, a vampire; and it is the player's choice whom to side with.

Meanwhile, Imoen and Irenicus have been removed to an asylum called Spellhold, which is situated on an island. Irenicus breaks his bonds, takes over Spellhold, and resumes his experimentation on Imoen. With the help of captain Saemon Havarian, the party gains passage to the island. They then infiltrate the asylum, but upon finding Imoen, they are captured by Irenicus, who had all along planned the players' following him. Irenicus proceeds with another experimental process, during which the PC has a dream. In this dream, the PC defeats a personification of the Bhaal essence within them; and, upon doing so, the dream ends.

The PC awakens without a soul, as does Imoen; their souls having been wrested from them by Irenicus and Bodhi. The party is then let into a maze beneath Spellhold, to be hunted down by Bodhi. When they face her, the PC, having lost their soul, involuntarily transforms into an avatar of Bhaal, a creature called the Slayer, scaring off Bodhi. (The PC later learns to control and use the form, though it comes at a moral price.) The party soon battles Irenicus, but he flees into the Underdark. The party follows and, by way of the Underdark, reaches the surface.

Upon their reaching the surface, the adventurers encounter the army of the elven city of Suldanessellar. The elves are trapped without, as Irenicus has magically sealed the entrance to the city. To gain access to it, the party secures the Rhynn Lanthorn from Bodhi, who has stolen the artefact, and upon Bodhi being slain, Imoen's soul is restored. The party proceeds through Suldanessellar and, at the Tree of Life, finds Irenicus attempting a ritual designed to grant him immortality. The PC confronts and slays him, but is dragged with the wizard into hell, as Irenicus still has his soul, with the rest of the party following. After completing five moral trials in hell, they find Irenicus and defeat him. The PC and their companions then return to life, and are honoured by the elves of Suldanessellar.

Development

Baldur's Gate II was developed by BioWare, published by Black Isle Studios, and released in September 2000.

The designers felt that they did not have enough time to achieve their goals in Baldur's Gate. For the sequel, they were permitted "adequate time to allow the game to reach its full potential."^[49] They also acknowledged that Planescape: Torment "raised the bar" by superbly telling its story. The designers of Baldur's Gate II did not wish to merely meet this expectation, but sought to redefine the standard set by Planescape.^[50] They focused "on ensuring that Baldur's Gate II is significantly better than Baldur's Gate in every way possible, and to make it appeal not only to fans of the original game but also to make it accessible to new fans who never played the original game."^[51]

Initially, two lists of desired features were made: an internal list, created by BioWare and Black Isle Studios, and a list of features the fans wanted to see.^[49] Eventually a major feature list was composed,^[49] including support for higher resolutions, 3D support, non-pausing dialogue in multiplayer, character kits, dual-wielding of weapons, deathmatch, and inclusion of AD&D monsters such as the dragon.^[49] Deathmatch was removed late in the project, while non-pausing dialogue, "the most problematic feature," was removed early in development, only to be reintroduced in early 2000.^[49]

To avoid some of the design mistakes made in Baldur's Gate, guidelines were drawn up, one set for each department, with the ones for level design being the longest.^[52] The guidelines were a work-in-progress, and evolved as the development progressed.^[52] Many early design decisions were made that did not follow the guidelines, which were not in their final form until the end of the project.^[52] Programming constraints were not always respected by other departments, such as design and art, leading to performance problems that were difficult, or impossible, to fix.^[52]

The game's pipeline, or content creation process, was essentially the same as that reached by the end of the development of Baldur's Gate and Tales of the Sword Coast.^[52] The level creation process was the longest and most complex of the pipelines, which are "the means by which artists and designers put their content into the game," according to Ray Muzyka.^[52] BioWare used an eight stage process in level creation,^[52] and found it quite difficult to keep track of changes made to levels. There were sometimes communication problems between different departments or teams, resulting in design inconsistencies.^[52] Muzyka wrote, "We learned to make sure all elements of the team are talking to each other and working as a group, rather than as a bunch of individuals!"^[52] However, they felt they had done a good job automating the level creation process, as levels were rapidly designed.^[52]

During the game's development, a quality assurance department was added to BioWare; and the game's publishers lent their assistance in testing.^[52] Muzyka stated, "because of its immense size, Baldur's Gate II was a tester's nightmare" which was "compounded by the fact that we didn't do enough testing as areas were being developed."^[53] The game contained about 290 quests, each of which had to be tested in both single player and multiplayer.^[53] BioWare used a method, introduced to them by Feargus Urquhart, Douglas Avery, and Chris Parker of Black Isle Studios, in which the game's quests were listed on whiteboards, with a cross placed beside each quest.^[53] Pairs consisting of a developer and a tester were allotted each a quest, and upon determining the quest was stable, its cross was deleted.^[53]

In the end, wrote Muzyka:

"there was a strangely serene feeling in the office. We didn't experience the headlong panic that is sometimes prevalent while finishing a game, but we certainly did experience considerable stress as we built 21 final candidates in 3 days. After a few long nights with the whole team playing the game over and over again, we reached a point where we built a good final candidate. Then it was sent to the duplicators!"^[53]

Some of the more unusual NPCs in the game were put in after winning a contest held during the development cycle. Habib, who attacks by throwing his scimitar, and later gold coins, at the player, was the overall winner.^[54]

Audio

The game's music was composed by Michael Hoenig, who also composed the music of Baldur's Gate.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	94.03%[55]
Metacritic	95/100[56]
Review scores
Publication	Score
Allgame	[57]
Eurogamer	9/10[58]
GamePro	[59]
GameSpot	9.2/10[60]
GameSpy	92/100[61]
GameZone	9.5/10[62]
IGN	9.4/10[63]
PC Zone	8.5/10[64]
FiringSquad	93%[65]
Gameplanet	5/5[66]
Just Adventure	A[67]
RPGamer	9/10[68]
Computer Gaming World	[69]
Awards Entity Award Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Character or Story Development (2001)[70] Eurogamer Best Game (2001)[71] Eurogamer Best Male Supporting Character (2001)[71] Eurogamer Best Art Direction (2001)[71] Game Informer 88th in the Top 200 Games of All Time (2009)[72] GameSpot The Greatest Games of All Time[73] GameSpot Role-Playing Game of the Year (2000)[74] GameSpot Readers' Choice Game of the Year (2000)[75] GameSpy RPG Game of the Year (2000)[76] IGN RPG of 2000[77] IGN 25th in the Top 100 Games of All Time (2005)[78] IGN 2nd in the Top 25 Modern PC Games (2010)[79]

Baldur's Gate II met with worldwide acclaim upon its release,^[56] with Metacritic listing it as the 6th highest scoring PC game on the site as of April 15, 2012.^[80] Computer Gaming World's reviewer said, "I think of this as Game Of The Year or even Hall Of Fame material [...] it certainly ranks up there with greats like Fallout, Planescape: Torment, and Betrayal At Krondor."^[69]

Baldur's Gate II's gameplay was called "addicting" by GamePro.^[59] RPGamer said that "the game plays pretty much the same [...] except for combat. Here we've taken a big step up from the frustrating ordeals in Baldur's Gate. The enemies are no longer quite so cheap, and more strategies are viable."^[68] Some reviewers, however, felt that the non-player characters in the game were not powerful enough in comparison to player-made characters.^[65] GameSpy said that the game is much more difficult than Baldur's Gate, and requires more strategy and planning than the original does.^[61] GameSpot felt that the opening level of the game "falls flat," but that it gets much better once the player reaches Athkatla.^[60]

The game's plot was met positively by reviewers, with GameSpy saying that "The plot can be summarized in one word: Epic. The developers bent over backwards to make you feel like you were making a difference in the game world, as well as provide some very 'awesome' enemies and quests."^[61]

GamePro praised the game's graphics, saying that "the backdrops are stunning and the spell effects are impressive with or without 3D acceleration."^[59] IGN echoed this statement by stating "The comparison between [the graphics of] Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II is astounding—like looking at a still oil painting, and then turning to see the scene in living motion on a big screen TV."^[63] FiringSquad said that the game's artwork surpassed that of Planescape: Torment, and called the background artwork "fantastic."^[65]

FiringSquad praised the voice acting of Baldur's Gate II, saying, "Characters sound alive and vivacious (or depressed, crazy—whatever suits them), bringing a whole new level of depth to game's [sic] immersion factor."^[65] Reviewers also generally found the game's music to be well-done.^[60][65]

Gameplanet criticized the game's poor support for online multiplayer, saying that it was "unstable and quite frustrating."^[66] Jakub Wojnarowicz of FiringSquad felt that the lack of communication between players in combat during online games was problematic, but that Local Area Network play would be "a lot more fun and less stressful."^[65] PC Zone said that "As in BG, multiplayer is a bit of a disappointment. [...] Come on guys, let's have some multiplayer maps or something."^[64]

Criticism was also directed at bugs in the game, such as frequent crashes when trying to access certain locations.^[64] According to Tim McConnaughy from GameSpy, Baldur's Gate II is "not 100% stable."^[61] GameSpot found that the game's loading times were a "bit long" and that the game crashed on occasion.^[60] Reviewers also felt that the small number of character portraits to choose from was a disappointment.^[60]

Greg Kasavin of GameSpot praised the game in general, saying, "the only reason [Baldur's Gate II] can't be called the best game in its class is because in a sense there's nothing available that compares to it."

Awards

Baldur's Gate II was inducted into GameSpot's "Greatest Games of All Time" list,^[73] and it also won their Readers' Choice Game of the Year award for 2000.^[75] It received three "Gaming Globe" awards from Eurogamer in 2001: Best Game, Best Art Direction, and Best Male Supporting Character (for Minsc).^[71] GameSpy, GameSpot, and IGN all awarded Baldur's Gate II their "Role-Playing Game of the Year" awards in 2000.^[74][76][77] The game won the "Character or Story Development" award at the 2001 Interactive Achievement Awards, and was also nominated for "Game of the Year," "Game Play Engineering," "PC Game of the Year," and "PC Role-Playing."^[70]

IGN also placed it at No. 25 on their 2005 "Top 100 Games of All Time" list.^[78] In 2009, Game Informer put Baldur's Gate II in 88th place on their list of "The Top 200 Games of All Time," calling it "The Best Dungeons & Dragons game ever made."^[72] In 2010, on IGN's Top 25 Modern PC Games, Baldur's Gate II was ranked 2nd, with Half-Life 2 being ranked first.^[79]

Expansion pack

In 2001, an expansion pack for the game, entitled Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, was released. Besides adding a new dungeon called Watcher's Keep,^[81] new features and enhancements, such as the Wild Mage character class,^[82] a higher experience point cap,^[83] and high-level class abilities to the game,^[84] Throne of Bhaal takes the protagonist's history further, concluding the entire Baldur's Gate saga.^[85] Throne of Bhaal was developed by BioWare and published by Black Isle Studios.

Editions and re-releases

Shadows of Amn also appeared in a Collector's Edition format, with additional characters for those who pre-ordered. Shadows of Amn was re-released along with its expansion as Baldur's Gate II: The Collection in 2002. In 2004, they were bundled with the original Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale in Black Isle Compilation Part Two. In 2006, they were re-released once again as Baldur's Gate: 4 in 1 Boxset. They were also included in Atari's Forgotten Realms Deluxe Edition, which, besides Neverwinter Nights, Shadows of Undrentide, and Hordes of the Underdark, contained all the Infinity Engine games except for Planescape: Torment.

In November 2010, Baldur's Gate II Complete was released in digital format (Windows only) on the classic games website Good Old Games as part of a deal with Atari-Hasbro. This version of the game includes Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn and its expansion Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal. Additional content is included in the purchase of the game, including PDF files of the game manuals, high definition wallpapers, artwork, avatars, and the soundtracks of both the core game and the expansion.

Baldur's Gate II Redux has also been released as a fan-made standalone campaign mod for BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins. Initially, the only content released was Irenicus's Dungeon level, with more content in production.^[86]

On March 15, 2012, a remake of Baldur's Gate II was announced, titled Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition, which will feature an updated version of the Infinity Engine. It is scheduled for release in the summer of 2012.

Novelization

There is a novelization of the game by Philip Athans. It focuses solely on Abdel, the last of the Bhaalspawn, and was published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast. The novel is the second in the series; the first, also by Athans, is a novelization of Baldur's Gate, and the third, by Drew Karpyshyn of Throne of Bhaal, the expansion to Shadows of Amn.

See also

• The Baldur's Gate series
• Baldur's Gate
• Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal
• Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
• Chronology of role-playing video games

References

• BioWare. 2000. Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn Game Manual. Black Isle Studios.

External links

• BioWare Legacy Games page
• Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn at Allgame
• Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn at GameSpot
• Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn at IGN
• Baldur's Gate II – Shadows of Amn at the Internet Movie Database
• Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn at MobyGames