I don’t understand the love Act 2 gets. I thought the character development for our companions and the supporting NPCs left much to be desired, I thought the exploration was limited, and I thought the Sharran Temple fights were uniformly disappointing. Also the plot felt convoluted.
I think Act 2 is great so far (almost finished it)!
Things I love:
- Great quest for Halsin, and he can finally join the party!
- I love the environmental theme of the Shadow Curse questline!
- Jaheira
- Quests and conversations with npcs from Act 1
- Creepy atmosphere is a good contrast to other areas
Jaheira (and her recruitment) was the highlight of Act 2. Though let's be honest, she would have been just as good if she would have been in Act 1.
The whole lifting the shadow curse questline was pretty cool, I'll give you that.
Another part that I liked was the Shar temple (except for most of the combat) and that it was so closely tied to Shadowheart
However...
[*]Act 2 has very little in terms of actual reactivity
[*]Exploration was, as Zerubbabel already mentioned, incredibly limited
[*]I hated the Thorm family "mini-bosses" as they totally reminded me of D:OS 2 and felt out of place in a D&D game
[*]Recruiting Halsin comes relatively late (and is easy to miss)
I definitely prefer it to Act 3 though but Act 2 doesn't even remotely compare to Act 1 when it comes to writing, reactivity and exploration.
