Hello

Does this game offer randomization?... in loot, treasures, quest locations, quest triggers, monster varieties, items you can pick up and lots of other random placements in a variety of ways.

I feel random factors are very important for any RPG experience to enhance replay value because it becomes boring soon if most pick ups are always found at the same place during exploration. I always look for the games that provide much allowed realism over graphics and that's why chose Baldur's gate as the reviews suggest a lot of replay.

To what extent BG2 has the replay value? What are it's other strong points for a replay?
........apart from story, music, game-play and dialogues of course. :)

AFAIK unmodded Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 don't have randomized loot. Icewind Dale does.
Replay value comes mainly from chosing different companions, with their different banters, interjections and quests.

So every time Chapter 1 will provide same variety before exiting dungeon?
...
well that's just the start may be forthcoming chapters do give me variety of some sort. I know the party to chose and the quests have options but talking strictly from exploring the city, slum areas, watchers keep and other areas featuring randomly generated monsters or items give some surprise element.

Chapter 1 is always the same in both games, which is why many players use a mod to skip it on replays.

ok.. so u mean, that answer to all my desiring are the Mods ..lol...

can u share some exceptionally good mod sites (spyware and virus free) for BG2 which are trustworthy and provide the best downloading to my liking... thanks!

Here you go.

http://pocketplane.net/mambo/ (check out the mod list)
http://gibberlings3.net/
http://www.spellholdstudios.net/

If you are going to install several mods, I highly recommend the Big World Project. It allows simultaneous installation of up to 400 mods while avoiding compatibility problems. Even if you install just a few, it can still help you to install them correctly and it provides fixes for the mods that are no longer maintained.

Here is the list of mods that are compatible with the BWP:
http://kerzenburg.baldurs-gate.eu/bwpmods.php

Here is a step-by-step installation guide (in not so perfect English, probably because it was translated from German):
http://www.shsforums.net/files/file/534-big-world-v11-english/

The guide is 250 pages long; you probably won't need to (or want to) read everything. Still, it might provide insight on which mods are compatible and what is the best install order if you are installing things by hand (which I would not recommend if you are installing more than 8-10 mods and do not know what they change beforehand).

Bingo! .. amazing sites thks for sharing.

"good mod sites (spyware and virus free)"

lol.....

The mod you want is the item randomizer. Though there are other replayability values that do depend on the whereabouts of the items being predictable. Lots of veterans on the Bioware BG forums participate in no-reload challenges and solo runs. And those are only feasible if you know which items to find were or you won't know where to find the items you need to survive without reloading.

More replayability value comes from choosing different classes, different party-members, lots of mods that add new content, even more mods that add fanmade NPC's. There are probably over a 100 Baldur's Gate II mod-NPC's to be found on the net (I never counted though), maybe even hundreds.

Can you link to this mod specifically? I've looked through all sites and googled a few times, but I cannot seem to find a mod that would allow one to skip over Chapter 1. Thanks.

I've used one of the many components in Sword Coast Stratagems for this in BG 1: www.gibberlings3.net/scs/
For BG2 you can use one of the components of Sword Coast Stratagems II: or a mod Called Dungeon-Be-Gone: [url=http://www.pocketplane.net/mambo/index.php?option=content&task=blogcategory&id=98&Itemid=79]http://www.pocketplane.net/mambo/index.php?option=content&task=blogcategory&id=98&Itemid=79