Quoted once again for great justice!The Madman said:I've said it before and I'll say it again: Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn
It just does nothing wrong. Great tactical DnD combat, excellent story, amazing soundtrack, crisp 2D visuals and high-resolution artwork, fantastic cast of characters including an extremely memorable villain, an amazing array of mods from an active and imaginative mod-community, and enough replayability to have someone still discovering new things years after the game has been released.
Other RPG I've played might do one or two things better, but no other that I've played it quite so cohesive a product overall. Planescape: Torment for example has the better story, but in terms of gameplay and presentation lags behind while a game like Temple of Elemental Evil I might feel has better tactical DnD gameplay, but falls behind in terms of story and narrative.
Baldur's Gate 2 meanwhile is just the complete deal. I love it!
As much as I love Chrono Trigger, I played the everloving shit out of Baldur's Gate 2. Numerous playthroughs; different characters, builds, alignments, party comps; reading up on progression paths - and after all that it never got old.
Damn near a perfect game.