Oh man, you guys...

Baldur's Gate 2 was vastly superior to Baldur's Gate. Everything bad about BG1 was noted and fixed for the sequel. Most notably the NEGATIVE SPACING. I mean I like massive games like Divine Divinity, but Baldur's Gate had so much empty meaningless space in it it was a chore to do exploring. Divine did a good job of making sure every area had something to do. While BG2 cut down on the exploration factor, at least less that took the emphasis off mindless wandering, and gave the devs more time to create the fantastic environments that they ended up with.

As for Confusion-type spells...

I only recall that being troublesome around Mind Flayers. But as is welcome as hell in games like this, all it took was a little strategic thinking to deal with them. I personally cast a few area affect spells and had a buffed-up wisdom junkie lure them out. I guess it all depended on your style of play.

Icewind Dale 2 was a simply fantastic game, culminating all that was great about the Infinity engine games in one spectacular package. I'm damn anxious to get my hands on another BG/ID game, seeing as how I've played every Infinity game at least 3 times (excluding Lionheart. I bought it, but that was only because I like Black Isle).

I plan on picking up Beyond Divinity this weekend, so hopefully that will hold me over until *something* comes out.

------
“The closer you get to being a pro, the closer you can get to the client. The knife, for example, is the last thing you learn. Ok?"