Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II Preview/Interview

GamingWorld X has put together a preview of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II, alongside an interview they conducted with Black Isle's Frank Kowalkowski. The entire article can be found here, with a snippet to follow:
Q: What new features does BG: DA2 have that will set it apart from the original game?

A: The first feature I implemented when I got onto the project was dual-wielding (aka two-weapon fighting). Anyone can fight with two weapons, though Ysuran can not spend feat points to improve his damage output.

The combat system was completely overhauled. It didn't make much sense to have a feat that adds +5 damage when your weapon was doing 100 points on its own. This took the focus away from the character and onto the equipment. Dave again came to the rescue and suggested we allow the quality of the weapon to multiply the feat-applied damage in the same manner it multiplies base damage. Hence, grand weapons will now multiply your feat damage by 4, so citing the above example your +5 damage feat would do +20 with a really good weapon and +5 with a really bad weapon. That's an improvement.

I could go on with all the new features, but really, the player will notice them quite often as they play through. Some of them are more technical (better lip synching, heat shimmer effects on the Xbox torches, etc), but all of them were added only if we felt it made the game better.

Oh, before I forget, the most prominent new feature is item creation. The player will be able to make their own +5 Sword of Uberness that Lights Stuff on Fire.