Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance Hints II (PS2)

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is a role-playing game developed by Snowblind Studios and published by Vivendi Games for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance. Despite the cross platform release, it is surprisingly similar on all gaming devices.

The player must create a character, choosing from one of the three templates available. Vahn is a human being and an archer who relies on arcane magic. His main strengths are the ability to hit enemies from a distance and the stealth to escape difficult battles. Adrianna is an elf and a sorceress, which means that she relies on magical attacks and on spells. Kromlech is a dwarf and a fighter. He is the closest thing the game has to a regular RPG tank, a guy who can take a lot of damage while also dishing it out.

After one complete run through the game, you can also select the legendary Baldur's Gate character Drizzt Do'Urden, who is a drow and can fulfill the dual roles of ranger and of fighter. In melee battle, he wields his signature two scimitars.

The plot is pretty standard RPG fare, with a lot of conspiracies and some Beholder meddling thrown in for good measure. The player begins as a lowly character and advances throughout the game to be powerful enough to take on the drow and even the undead. There's a cliffhanger ending the game - necessary as a sequel was under development at the time the game got launched.

GAMEPLAY HINTS

Getting good items

Just before you open a treasure chest or search a weapon rack, you need to save the game. Open the treasure chest or search the weapon rack and if you do not like what you get, reload from the last save and try again.

Easy money

Save the game near a shop. Drop all your expensive items, then load your saved character to the same location. After the loading screen, pick up all your items and sell them. Do this again in the exact same order. You will get a lot of money

Use the "Duplicate Items" trick with your most expensive item or weapon. Keep duplicating it until you cannot hold anymore. Sell the duplicates and buy the most expensive weapon you can afford.

Enable the "Cheat mode" and "Invincibility" codes then go to the The Gauntlet level. Get the Onyx Sword, sell it, and repeat.

When you sell your arrows, the value is the same, whether you are selling one arrow or a full set of twenty. If you are using a bow, then sell the used arrows and then immediately purchase a set. This trick works best if you have less than 100 arrows, because the vendors only buy the last set of arrows.

Here's the final boss fight of the game: