Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal

aka: BGII:ToB, Baldur's Gate II: Der Thron des Bhaal, Baldur's Gate II: Tron Bhaala, Bode zhi Men 2: Baer Wangzuo
Moby ID: 4222
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

It has been a long journey. From the humble beginnings as a youth in the security of Candlekeep, traveling to the depths of slaved-worked mines, to the cloak-and-dagger politics of Baldur's Gate; as far down as the capital city of Amn, having to deal with the depraved obsessions of the madman Jon Irenicus and an army of undead. The protagonist has seen the death of friends, gained new companions, and met lovers. After much hardship and toil it has come down to this. It all ends here in Tethyr. A great war for dominance is waging between the children of the god Bhaal. The protagonist stands in the center of the struggle. It is time to end the questing and get the answers sought for so very long.

Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal is an add-on to Shadows of Amn and requires it for playing. Despite being an expansion pack, the game directly continues the story from Shadows of Amn, and is the final chapter of the Baldur's Gate saga, following the adventures of the main character through the Forgotten Realms universe. The hero(ine) encounters new characters, new lands, new items, equipment, quests, and monsters, up to the ultimate battle that concludes the overarching story.

The add-on raises the level cap to 40, and allows the characters to access the most powerful attacks and spells. All the party members from the previous game are playable and selectable from the onset, with the addition of a new surprising companion, Sarevok, whom the player has met in the first game. The game also adds a large dungeon called Watcher's Keep, which contains the game's most powerful enemies and can be accessed from Shadows of Amn, provided Throne of Bhaal is installed.

Spellings

  • 博德之门2: 巴尔的王座 - Simplified Chinese spelling
  • 柏德之門II:邪神霸權 - Traditional Chinese spelling

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Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Windows version)

261 People (248 developers, 13 thanks) · View all

Division Director
Senior Producer
Producer
Audio & Localization Producer
Division Operations
Black Isle Studios Quality Assurance
Webmaster
Special Thanks To
Assistant Producer
Line Producer
Executive Producer
Lead Designer
Senior Designer
Designer
Director of Writting and Design
Additional Designer
Lead Programmer
Programmer
Lead Programmer, Tools
Programmer, Tools
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 87% (based on 44 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.2 out of 5 (based on 122 ratings with 2 reviews)

The end of the great saga

The Good
First thing to say: this game is more than just a regular expansion pack. By no means can it be compared to Tales of the Sword Coast. Throne of Bhaal is, rather, a separate small game that adds two new chapters to Baldur's Gate II, finally bringing the great story to its ultimate conclusion.

What I enjoyed most in Throne of Bhaal is the fact your characters get incredibly powerful. Even in the second game enemy mages knew more spells than mine. In this final episode, you can finally lay your paws on some pretty awesome stuff. There are all sorts of destructive weapons, special abilities for melee-oriented characters, and jaw-dropping spells for your wizards, which surely come in handy as you battle assorted dragons and other high-level foes.

A very cool feature is your Plane, where you can rest anytime and summon all those party members you might have missed in the previous game. You can return to your Plane any time and experiment with your party composition in any way you like. Also, while at the Plane, you'll find Cespenar, a hilarious imp who can make your weapons and armor more powerful. You'll have to gather all kinds of rare items for him, but it's well worth the effort.

There are some minor gameplay improvements. You can erase spells and then learn them again. This way, you can remove unwanted spells from your arsenal, and also learn spells two or more times, gaining experience points each time (you can erase a spell, then learn it again from a scroll). When leveling up, all your characters gain various special abilities, depending on their class.

Although short, the add-on consists of entirely new locations, including two towns and a few other settlements, as well as several colorful dungeons. Despite the overall linearity, there are still some side quests to be found. It also adds a huge optional dungeon with all sorts of cool enemies and rare items to Shadows of Amn.

The plot is fairly strong, with a few nice surprises thrown in and an appropriate climax in the end. There are three possible endings for the game, depending on your answers to the Solar that questions you throughout the game and the last decision you make just after defeating the final enemy. You also get to know what happened to the party members you took with you to the final fight (so be sure to pick the ones you like most, or at least those whose future really interests you). A key plot character from the first game can now join you in a rather unexpected twist, and your moral choices concerning him affect his fate.

The Bad
Throne of Bhaal is too linear compared to its predecessors. I understand that they just wanted to complete the long story and give the players the opportunity to do it in a straightforward fashion. Yet I think I'd rather give up one of the locations for more freedom in the way I tackle the main quest, and more optional assignments.

It may seem that I'm demanding too much from what was supposed to be a simple add-on, but I felt that they tried to extend the game's story at the expense of gameplay by making each location mandatory, requiring you to go through all the dungeons in order to have a full-length plot. Indeed, there is much dynamism in the story and that is a good thing, but if I had to choose I'd prefer more options for player-created content than events that occur just because the designers forced them on the player.

The Bottom Line
Throne of Bhaal concludes one of the most important sagas in the history of role-playing games, and does it with style and substance beyond the requirements of a mere expansion pack. It's not a full-fledged Baldur's Gate due to its streamlined nature; but if you ever wanted your favorite mage to hit dragons for D20 damage, you can't pass it up.

Windows · by Unicorn Lynx (181788) · 2014

Become a god

The Good
I'm not going to talk about how it is great to go running around Tethyr killing off Bhaalspawn, because that is not the highlight of ToB. The highlight of ToB in my opinion was Watchers Keep which is a HUGE five storied dungeon in which are the hardest enemies you will ever have to fight in the world of Baldur's Gate. And at the end of all that you get the joy of fighting Demogorgon - the prince of demons.

The other 5 levels of the keep are so well planned out that I couldn't believe that these people had made the very unorganized Bg1. If you have got Bg2 and you are looking for a way to get stronger fast then you can go to Watcher's Keep while you are wandering around the world of Amn - so that is another perk of the expansion.

The Bad
I guess I was expecting to much from the expansion pack. I was expecting for there to be more side quests, but really there are only a tiny amount compared to Bg2. But that is really the only thing I have to complain about this great game.

The Bottom Line
If you have played any of the Baldur's gate series then it is a must that you get Bg2 and this expansion along with it.

Windows · by Horny-Bullant (49) · 2003

Discussion

Subject By Date
Pending correction Patrick Bregger (298173) Aug 21, 2011

Trivia

Novel

Wizards of the Coast published a novelization of this game in 2001, written by Drew Karpyshyn.

Pantaloon

Ever wonder what the Gold Pantaloons in Baldur's Gate were for? What about the Silver ones in Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn? If you import your character from BG1 (who has the Gold Pantaloons) into BG2, find the Silver ones there, and then import this character into Throne of Bhaal, you will need to find the Bronze Pantalettes. After that, Kerrick the Smith can combine them to create the Big Metal Unit, giving your character an AC of -10, as well as the Big Metal Rod weapon which shoots frag grenades, pulse ammo, and scorcher ammo. Wearing the armor makes your character literally look like a Juggernaut Golem.

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • April 2002 (Issue #213) - Best Game Expansion in 2001
  • GameSpy
    • 2001 – PC Expansion Pack of the Year

Information also contributed by Pseudo_Intellectual, Terok Nor and Zack Green

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Related Sites +

  • Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal
    Official site for Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal.
  • Baldurdash
    A site by Kevin Dorner of Bioware containing hundreds of unofficial bug fixes for both Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal that weren't corrected by any of the official patches.
  • Baldurs Gate Trilogy
    A German Fansite - containing tons of detailed informations, Walkthrough, and files (media and patches, including the unofficial german text-patch)
  • Hints for Throne of Bhaal
    Walkthroughs can spoil a game by revealing everything at once. The hints on this site give you gentle nudges toward the solutions to help you solve the game yourself.
  • Mike's Baldur's Gate II pages
    A great resource site for Baldur's Gate II. Tips, walkthroughs, maps and much more.
  • Pocket Plane Group
    Pocket Plane Group publishes a number of detailed mods for Baldur's Gate 2 and other Infinity Engine games. BG2 Mods include Kelsey NPC, Quest Pack, the BG1Tutu converter, Banter Packs, and Ashes of Embers.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 4222
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Drew Dorton.

Macintosh added by Kabushi.

Additional contributors: Gene Davison, Unicorn Lynx, Entorphane, JPaterson, Jeanne, phlux, JRK, FloodSpectre, Xoleras, Jason Compton, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger.

Game added June 3, 2001. Last modified March 3, 2024.