Fun fights and good character system ruined by the designers' fetish for blocked doors, finicky quests and bugs.
Probably the best role-playing game ever made were it not wrecked by terrible quest designs. The combination of graphics, sound, challenging fights and unlimited ways of conducting battle make for a perfect game. The voice acting alone is better than any game ever made. In most games, players repeat the same thing over and over but in this game every fight has to be approached with a tactical mind and it's fun to use different magic, weapons and summonings for variety.
I am replaying this game after a bug stopped me in the ice temple. Make sure you save in the ice temple before fighting Oria in the unlikely case you are stricken with the disappearance of Oria bug. A simple reload works around the bug. This game is just as fun on a replay cause of many different characters to try, difficult fights and the variable magic items that change each playthrough.
This game is one the best medieval roleplaying games ever made along with Baldur's Gate which is the most famous of the series. The depth of the game, tactical battles, AD&D character classes, numerous monsters and magical items make this game a delight. After finishing each battle you are left with a pleasant satisfied feeling at the sight of smitten monsters carpeting the snow or cavern floor cause you know it takes more than strong party members to win cause you actually have to plan and manage your fights intelligently to survive. The fights are difficult but not too out of control if you use good tactics and choose the right magic, summons and weapons for each battle.
Magic characters are the most fun, especially the druid which has a huge array of healing, buffing and attack spells plus very strong animals she can morph into to slap around the badguys. Wizards are fantastic and the variety of spells makes it hard to choose which ones to play with - hard in a good way of course.
The homely crackling of fires, murmurs of sleeping dogs, voices of townsfolk, howling of creatures, clip-clopping on cobblestones, weather effects etc make you wish you could be there to enjoy the pleasant ambiance and brutal combat. The graphics are beautiful especially the mushrooms in the Underdark.
And early game wrecker is the Battle Squares in the Ice Temple. It is best avoided unless you enjoy pulling your hair out in clumps.
The game dies in Dragon's Eye. The quests are a convoluted mess that dead end over some modified mandrake root and a nightmare of locked doors that cannot be opened. The game is unplayable from this point cause the mess of quests are impossible to complete due to the mandrake root item not being in the game plus the blocked doors and even one door that makes your party run away to a spiked room. The end of the game seems to be determined to stress-out the player and make you go mad with frustration and grief until you delete it.