Easily the best RPG ever to grace video gaming; Complex, varied characters with detailed backgrounds and histories past standard RPG archeypes. Hundreds of hours of optional content in the forms of side quests and item hunting, without the "grind" of later RPGs. Intense and difficult combat based on AD&D settings, with powerful options for nearly every class. One of the few RPGs that has ever done rogues well; their ability to detect and disarm traps (of which there are dozens in each dungeon), pick pockets, and steal from merchants made them invaluable to a balanced party in a way that other RPGs just fail to capture. The story was great, carrying on from Baldur's Gate 1 without missing a beat. And, of course, because it's a PC game, the modding community has increased its quality by adding more content, items, classes, and even seamlessly merging BG1 and BG2 into one long, truly epic gaming experience that nothing else comes close to touching.