Pros:
- The game has a lot more voice acting and is more cinematic than its predecessor.
- The story of Shadows of Amn is pretty good and Jon Irenicus is a very memorable villain performed incredibly by the late David Warner.
- The City feels a live with a lot of quests. Those quests have multiple choices and outcomes.
- The companions becomes more fleshed out and have a lot of banter and they can clash or leave.
- The combat gets more powers and options.
- The art direction of the locales is great and the levels are intricate and have neat navigation puzzles.
- The soundtrack is amazing and epic.
I honestly played the game for 40 hours without feeling the time and I know I left a lot of the quests untouched.

Cons:
- The combat can get messy especially Throne of Bhaal power creep and it had a ton of encounters.
- Some pathfinding issues for the companions and sometimes it's hard to visually discern the intractable items even with zooming all the way in.

One of the best games of all time. Simple.

i have seen some people say BG2 is one of the best games of all time. i can totally see why people would say that, however this game is best experienced after ample time spent with the first game so you get a better understanding of the rule set and game mechanics at work here.

BG1 is a lot more streamlined than BG2, so while BG1 is something you can speed through once you know what you're doing, able to skip tons of areas if you deem it unworthy of your time, etc. but BG2 is a massive expansive world that is a lot more difficult to navigate. it also runs a lot longer than BG1 does. because you'll be a higher level than in BG1, you also spend more time micro-managing rounds & high level spells which can definitely be intimidating as well as frustrating, especially if you struggle to grasp how the game's combat works.

i feel like the game runs a good 20-30 hours too long, and it should've been a bit more comparable to the first game. you are constantly being bombarded with new side quests, companions, companion quests, etc. and i struggled to settle in and get to know all the characters (this very obviously suggests that multiple playthrus are almost necessary at a point to experience everything the game has to offer.

also, BG2 has one of the all time greatest villains and that alone makes it a classic just like it's predecessor and successor were/are