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This is basically a comparison between the two games. Feel free to write what you feel about the two games.

I finally changed my opion about ToB and BG2 from what it used to be.

Personally I think BG1 was the best game out of them, I mean look at it. Your character was not Godly powerfull, you had to use strategy to beat the game, it was awesome. To get a damn magic item you had to fight for your life. I mean to get that +2 LongSword you had to fight that one guy and he was beating your half your party down. Then Tales of the Sword Coast came out. That was cool Durlag's Tower was awesome I think. Also that Werewolf Island was nice.
Then BG2 came out. Overall its a nice game, you get pretty strong but you still had some very good challeges in the game. The magic weapons and items were distributed a bit faster but there was not that many very powerfull ones.
Then ToB came out, good god WTF happened there, the game designers went haywire on this one. I thought having couple of powerfull weapons would be cool so I argued about that, but then it just got out of hands. You found UnGodly powerfull weapons right and left for doing hmmmmmm oh yea looking at the table or lockpicking a damn chest. The game proposed no challenge what so ever. It was extremly short and boring. The story went retarded and why would only your main character be a damn god look at the rest of the party they are about as strong as he/she.
I think BG1 & Tales of the Sword Coast take the prize. But that is just my opion, does anyone think this otherwise or same?

I enjoyed BG1 far more than BG2 for the mere fact that you explore the woods. There is none of that in BG2 and it really pisses me off. Any woods in ToB?

if bg1 paused in inventory and had location markers on the maps i'd vote for it hands down. the journal was imo much better in soa.

i'm playing bg1 now and navigating in the city is awful.

combats really push the player to try and get the most out of each member.

kobolds are to be feared.

story wise i prefer bg1, since your char seems more proactive actively seeking the conclusion, whereas soa i think the plot chases you. and i'm not too sure tob has a plot rather than a series of fights that must be done in order.

[ 07-10-2001: Message edited by: koz-ivan ]

Well...That's the question : when should a hero retire ?
If you ever had experienced real AD&D roleplaying, you will know how it feels to became more and more powerfull...
I think that the two games are just the perfect copy of the paper one : when you start with low level characters, you have to use your brain but when you reach high levels, you rely only on muscles...

I didn't play ToB yet (I'm in backyard Europe...), but from my BG1/TotSC and SoA experience here is my .02 :
BG1 was just so "special" that I really enjoyed it when it went out...Ahhh at last "real" D&D play with great graphics/sounds !
I felt level/xp progression was fairly hard, it took very long just attaining 5th level !
Item-wise it was already "heavy" in good items from chapter 5 on : in fact ending chars only were 7-9th level but had awfully powerful items for their level !
Much of the action was outdoors, somewhat TOO much for me - there were very few "dungeons"...
TotSC complemented BG1 fairly : the big Durlag dungeon restored balance, again numerous items were given, levels got up to 10-12th.
With SoA you started between 7 and 12th level, without items at first, but...very quickly you can find/buy really powerful items, and you gain xp at such a lightning rate...I'm in the Underdark, my main dual Ftr+Thief is now 22..or is it 23rd ? level, I even don't remember !!

As for "challenges", I think they're still there, it's not *that* easy to kill FirKraag or Kangaxx - or any Lich whatsoever !

In BG1 beating an Ogre in chapter 2 was a feat, beating the final Ta'anari in TotSC too, surely in ToB you need a really godlike being to offer any resistance - but the chars are 25th level + !!

It's just a *different* kind of challenge : managing very numerous spells/abilities/items instead of just keeping the HPs over 0
It was the same in PnP...My only gripe is so that I feel there is too much too powerful items in BG2, even without ToB...
Planescape is a good counter-example : the characters didn't become THAT powerful, even at 30th lvl +, because they hadn't so many items...(BTW, I really liked this game ! Its other good point was that it was shorter to complete than BG or SoA, bad point is that it's more linear and less replayable..)