Baldur's Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal Info from www.interplay.com/bg2throne/ The Final Chapter The prophecy of Alaundo is upon you! War wreaks havoc among the Bhaal Spawn, and as a Child of Bhaal, you too become embroiled in the conflict. The mysteries concerning your dark heritage require final answers, and the secrets of your hidden powers are soon to be unleashed. Your journey down the Sword Coast has finally lead you just south of Amn, to the country of Tethyr. It is here, on this final battlefield, that the victors shall rise above the vanquished. You are the Bhaal Spawn, and your ultimate destiny will be yours for the taking! In the expansion set to the award-winning Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn continue your quest and conclude the epic saga. Even if you have completed Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, return and discover the mysteries of a dangerous new dungeon - Watcher's Keep. In addition, an exhilarating adventure unfolds when you explore new lands, battle fierce monsters and villains, and gain high-level abilities that bestow awesome powers. Fulfill your ultimate destiny in. Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal. All New Features: Adventure deep into the lands of Tethyr and complete the compelling saga as you fulfill your destiny as a Child of Bhaal! Uncover the mysteries of Watcher's Keep, a deadly new dungeon, where you will encounter an ancient evil of awesome power. Cast powerful new spells like Wish and Bigby's Hand Spells as your character climbs as high as 40th level with an experience point cap of 8 million! Gain amazing high-level abilities; new combat feats for fighters, deadly new traps for thieves, special quest spells for clerics and 9th level spells for mages. Play a new character kit, the Wild Mage. Fight and Summon awe-inspiring D&D creatures during your search for artifacts, relics and other legendary magic items! Product Specs: Required: Windows 95/98 with DirectX 7.0 or higher Pentium II 233 or faster 32 MB RAM 800 MB Hard Drive space for installation (1.2 GB for BGII: TOB) 4x CD-ROM drive 4 MB DirectX certified video card 100% Microsoft compatible keyboard, mouse Recommended: Pentium II 266 or faster 64 MB RAM 8x CD-ROM drive Frequently Asked Questions Q:What is Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal? A: Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal is the expansion pack to the award-winning Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. It is the epic conclusion to the Bhaal saga that began with the original Baldur's Gate. There are two parts to BGII: ToB: an Add-in section and an Add-on section. The Add-in section is new content added into the BGII: SoA in the form a very large dungeon called Watcher's Keep. The add-on section takes place on a brand new map with many cool new areas to explore, and starts shortly after the events in Shadows of Amn with an exhilarating and immersive story. Q: How will the storyline continue in this final chapter of the Bhaal saga? A: The prophecy of Alaundo is upon you! War has broken out between the Children of Bhaal and you become embroiled in the conflict. As a Child of Bhaal yourself, you will be given the chance to delve deeper into the secrets of your dark heritage and achieve your ultimate destiny. The Child of Bhaal Saga has been building to this epic conclusion over two large games and a previous expansion pack. The culmination of the saga is a grand adventure told over the course of a very large expansion pack. Q: Where does BGII: ToB take place? A: Throne of Bhaal takes place in the country of Tethyr, just south of Amn. Q:Where do I begin the game? A: Shortly after the events in BGII: SoA, news of a war to the South between other Children of Bhaal resolves you to search for more answers. Queen Ellesime urges you to visit a sacred grove where the ancients might shed light on your fate, yet with answers come more questions. It is here that your adventure begins. Q: If I haven't finished playing BGII: SoA can I play BGII: ToB? A: It is completely possible to start BGII: ToB without having finished BGII: SoA. There are two parts to BGII: ToB: an Add-in section and an Add-on section. The Add-in section is new content added into the BGII: SoA, whereas the add-on content continues the story after the events of Shadows of Amn. The Add-in section is the dungeon of Watcher's Keep, which is larger than Durlag's Tower from Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast, and one of the coolest areas ever created for any Baldur's Gate game! Watcher's Keep will show up on both the BGII: SoA and the BGII: ToB maps. This means that you can play the dungeon while continuing Shadows of Amn (you will also have the option of playing Watcher's Keep dungeon from the Add-on section). If you wish to play the Add-on section without finishing BGII: SoA, the game will proceed as if you had finished Shadows of Amn and you won't be able to return to the Shadows of Amn areas. Q: Do I begin the game alone or can I use my party from BGII: SoA? A: You can do both! You can import your party from any save game in BGII: SoA (including your Final Save), in which case they will get to keep their equipment and be bumped up to 2 million experience points if they haven't already reached that experience level. Or you can just import your characters from any BGII: SoA save game, who will get to keep their equipment from but also receive some powerful new items and be raised to the 2 million experience level. Lastly, a new character can be created from scratch and will be outfitted with an assortment of powerful items with their experience set to 2 million experience points. Whether you choose to start the game alone or with a party, you will soon be given the opportunity to call upon any of the NPCs from BGII: SoA to join you. Q: Will there be any new NPCs in BGII: ToB that can join my party? A: You will have the ability to summon any NPCs from BGII: SoA to join you in your adventures. There will also be one new and very cool NPC in BGII: ToB that will be able to join your party. Q: Will I have a stronghold like in BGII: SoA? A: You will have your own personal stronghold located in the Abyss. It is here that the secrets of undiscovered powers will be revealed to you. It is also a sanctuary where you can rest and store your accumulated treasures. Q: How long is BGII: ToB? A:The length of time it will take to play Throne of Bhaal will depend on whether you're a faster player or a slower one. Depending on your play style, it could take as long as 40-50 hours. Q: Will my romances continue in BGII: ToB? A: Most definitely! If you choose to import your party from BGII: SoA, then any romances you had with a party member will continue where it left off and proceed to grow. However, if you don't import your romantic partner when starting a new game, none of the romance will be carried over. Q: Will I be able to keep all my equipment from BGII: SoA? A: You can keep all of your equipment when you import into Throne of Bhaal. If you start a new game, you will be given a bag of holding full of powerful and interesting equipment. Q: What are the system requirements to run BGII: ToB? A: The System Requirements for Throne of Bhaal are the same as BG2 as far as hardware goes. You will need additional Hard Drive space although we're not sure exactly how much space it will need at this point. Q: What will be the highest level my character can reach? A: We have raised the Experience Cap to 8 Million XP, effectively removing it. The average player should reach about 5 million XP and gain approximately 10 levels during the course of Throne of Bhaal. At the cap, a character can reach as high as 40th level depending on his/her class. Q: I was already powerful at the end of BGII: SoA. How exactly will I become even more powerful in BGII: ToB? A: As your character advances above the BGII experience cap, they gain High Level Abilities and Spells according to their class. For example: a fighter might gain the ability to perform a Whirlwind Attack, an ability that temporarily sets the players Attacks/Round to 10. A mage, on the other hand, would have access to super spells such as Improved Alacrity, which essentially sets the casting time of all of the mage's spells to 1, allowing him to cast several high level spells, one after another, without pause. A thief could gain the ability to scribe and use scrolls and mix potions. A cleric might gain a powerful new spell called Storm of Vengeance, a spell that causes the earth to shake and the heavens to boil with blood and energy. All enemies of the caster are stuck down by acidic rain, earthquakes and lightning. Q: Will I get to find more lost relics that I can forge together to create new powerful weapons and items? A: Yes, there are numerous items that can be both created or upgraded. You can even upgrade some of the items you've found during BGII: Shadows of Amn. For example, you can find new heads to add to the Flail of Ages, eventually turning it into 5 headed flail that strikes down your enemies with ease. You can also forge and create new items such as Blue Dragon Scale. A word of warning, however. it isn't easy to get the scales for that armor... Q: Can I turn my mage into a wild mage? A: A current character cannot take a new kit but, as a player, you have numerous options that allow you to try out the Wild Mage. You can start a new expansion pack game and choose the Wild Mage kit. You can also access the new kit in BGII: Shadows of Amn. Should you choose to, you can play both Shadows of Amn and then Throne of Bhaal as a Wildmage. Q: What are wild mages and how do they work? A: Wild magic is a new type of magic that is characterized by powerful and dangerous surges or unpredictable magic. Generally considered to be an unfortunate by-product of the Time of Troubles, wild magic has recently begun to attract the attention or many a curious or scholarly wizard. A Wild Mage is a wizard who specializes in the study of wild magic and has access to spells to protect him/herself from Wild magic as well as bend it to his/her will. Wild magic is extremely unpredictable and should be used with caution. Q: What new monsters are there? A: We have numerous new monsters such as Solars, Planetars, Purple Dragons, Magic Golems, Blue Dragons, Hive Mothers, Red Abishai, Fire Giants and a few others that are so cool that we are keeping them secret for now. In addition to these new monsters, we also have advanced AI scripting for these and many monsters, making battles even more interesting and exciting than ever! This high level of scripting also allows for more realistic behaviors for peasants, soldiers, and other NPCs. Q: How do the Special High Level Abilities work? Are they spells? Can we buy them? How do we get them and how do they work? A: When a character reaches his/her first level after BGII: Shadows of Amn (at approx 3 million XP), they have access to a High Level Abilities Selection Screen. Here, they choose from a list of high level abilities or spells. Mages and clerics will have their High Level Quest spells added to their spell books while other classes can access their new abilities via their special abilities button. In addition to these new High Level Spells and Abilities, we also have additional spells that can be bought or found such as the Bigby's Hand spells and Wish, one of the most powerful spells ever and included in an AD&D CRPG for the first time! Q: In Icewind Dale, the player could watch his/her characters travel across an Area in the Map Screen. Will Throne of Bhaal offer this option? A: Yes, we have added this as an option. A player can play the game with this feature on or with it off as it was originally. - o -