Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II - Mechanics, Gameplay, goals & objectives

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II

Developer: Black Isle Studios

Released: 2004
Platform: PS2/XBOX

Sequel to Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance series which was released only on consoles.

Gameplay:

It is an Hack and Slash Action RPG and therefore conforms to the genre characteristics. The aim is to complete quests and level up whilst collecting/looting mobs to upgrade weapons/armour, players can travel around the "world" completing missions and side quests whilst also being able to craft armour/weapons and gain skills/powers. Hit the enemy and dint get hit.

Mechanics:

Basic mechanics, the basic mechanics of the game include:
Move + Jump (in any direction)
Move Camera
Attack
Change weapon
Drink Potion
Talk to NPC's
Loot
Use skill

These basic mechanics are the fundamentals for successful gameplay. For example it is essential for the camera to be able to move due to the "maze like levels" and your charecter dissapearing behind objects.

Advanced mechanics, the more complex mechanics include:

Leveling up: with killing monsters comes experience points which level up your character giving the ability to increase attributes such as health or attack power and also unlock special skills to use.

Shopping: you can purchase items/weapons/armour from shops and also sell your loot to earn money to buy new items.

Crafting: you can craft armour and weapons and customise them with runes + gems bought from the shopkeeper or looted in game. This is a mechanic popularised in games like Diablo 2 and it adds an extra element of depth and customisation to the game.

Emerging Mechanics

Feats and spells in combination with certain weapons/runes/gems are an emerging mechanic..for example a combination of a jacinth gem (+fire damage) on a weapon combined with empower (+magic damage passive ability) and player casts Flame Strike (fire spell) would give much more damage than just casting the fire spell. the same applies to each class but with its own twist on it, for example barbarian could have a two handed weapon with a sapphire gem (+dmg) with passive combat reflexes  (+speed) and activate divine strength (+dmg) would benefit the player.

The game in its nature is complex and requires complex game mechanics that work well together, baulder's gate achieves this with little room for improvement except maybe making the world more open and less linear as following a path and slaying the same enemies over and over again can get a little tedious, but all in all it seems a good solid game..