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Baldur's Gate Expansion: Tales of the Sword Coast

Baldur's Gate Expansion: Tales of the Sword Coast

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It blew my mind
Review: A great expansion to BG, I enjoy playing against and with my friends now on LAN.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: They could have done better
Review: I love this game; it's the best I've played since Ultima IV. But the expansion to Baulder's Gate is rather undeveloped. I think they should've put more plot to it. But the good thing is, I can get my characters to higher level. But there's nothing more to EP other than Durlag's Tower. I'ts not bad overall, but they could've done more with it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Nice thought-but a little watered down.
Review: I'm sure that this add-on was pressured by the public to be released quickly due to the great succsess of Baldur's Gate, but at the time of release the price tag seemed a bit high for so little substance. Other than some new areas and quests to complete, the only redeeming quality of this package was the experience cap being rasied a tad giving all those dual-class humans a chance to shine. As a nice bonus, there are some REALLY cool new magical items that could ease the time an Import character will have in the next installment.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Expansion pack is a must!
Review: I'm surprised at the number of reviewers who found this game disappointing. I found it to be a challenging expansion pack that significantly raises the difficulty level over that of the original. No, Tales of the Sword Coast doesn't extend the story line of BG, and, no, the story line doesn't even FIT comfortably within the original BG plot. And yes, Tales IS basically an add-on that simply allows your characters to increase their experience points and find new items in the process.

Still, I think it is a fault to criticize the game too much (as many customer reviewers have) on issues of story line. If you want a great, involved story, well, buy Planescape: Torment (my vote for greatest RPG title ever). Even though Tales of the Sword Coast's game objectives may seem completely out of whack with the BG main plot, think back to BG and I think you'll recall LOTS of areas that didn't have anything to do with the iron shortage or Saverok For instance, did the Firewine Dungeon "really" play a crucial role in terms of story line? Did helping Drizzt fight off those hordes of baddies really advance the plot? How about all the random quests?

In other words, I think one should evaluate TOSC using one simple maxim as a guide: namely, are the new areas fun to play? In my opinion, the new areas in TOSC are both challenging and enjoyable. One of the levels (***BEWARE, SPOILERS HERE***), the ice island is a throwaway, but the other two, Werewolf Island and Durlag's Tower, are impressive. Werewolf Island does have a captivating plot, and although it's size in terms of area isn't large, the battles are numerous and semi-difficult. Durlag's Tower provides players with something that BG kind of lacked: a decent dungeon crawl. I found Durlag's Tower very involving and moderately difficult. Unlike the ridiculous monster count and borderline unplayability (in terms of difficulty) of Icewind Dale's dungeons, Durlag's Tower strikes a nice balance between being difficult but not too difficult; it knows how to challenge players without forcing them to die, reload, die, reolad, die reload, ad infinitum.

Lastly, I found this game a decent value in terms of length. TOSC is now a bargain bin purchase, and although some customers here like to brag (lie???) about how the game only took them 10 hours to complete, Tales took me betwen 1 and 2 weeks to finish. I admit that I may not be a master AD&D player, yet I did successfully complete BG and felt that my party was very much up to the challenge of the expansion pack.

This game does get docked a notch, however, for some small problems: 1) Pathfinding is still troublesome. 2) Inventory juggling is still a nightmare. I truly believe that about 50% of Baldur's Gate (and this expansion) is spent juggling inventory items. 3) The puzzle element introduced in Durlag's Tower is more annoying than fun. 4) The next-to-final battle against a monster summoned with Durlag's Blade is insanely difficult and convoluted. But basically, if you enjoyed the original you should probably enjoy this expansion.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Decent Gameplay
Review: I'm surprised at the number of reviewers who found this game disappointing. I found it to be a challenging expansion pack that significantly raises the difficulty level over that of the original. No, Tales of the Sword Coast doesn't extend the story line of BG, and, no, the story line doesn't even FIT comfortably within the original BG plot. And yes, Tales IS basically an add-on that simply allows your characters to increase their experience points and find new items in the process.

Still, I think it is a fault to criticize the game too much (as many customer reviewers have) on issues of story line. If you want a great, involved story, well, buy Planescape: Torment (my vote for greatest RPG title ever). Even though Tales of the Sword Coast's game objectives may seem completely out of whack with the BG main plot, think back to BG and I think you'll recall LOTS of areas that didn't have anything to do with the iron shortage or Saverok For instance, did the Firewine Dungeon "really" play a crucial role in terms of story line? Did helping Drizzt fight off those hordes of baddies really advance the plot? How about all the random quests?

In other words, I think one should evaluate TOSC using one simple maxim as a guide: namely, are the new areas fun to play? In my opinion, the new areas in TOSC are both challenging and enjoyable. One of the levels (***BEWARE, SPOILERS HERE***), the ice island is a throwaway, but the other two, Werewolf Island and Durlag's Tower, are impressive. Werewolf Island does have a captivating plot, and although it's size in terms of area isn't large, the battles are numerous and semi-difficult. Durlag's Tower provides players with something that BG kind of lacked: a decent dungeon crawl. I found Durlag's Tower very involving and moderately difficult. Unlike the ridiculous monster count and borderline unplayability (in terms of difficulty) of Icewind Dale's dungeons, Durlag's Tower strikes a nice balance between being difficult but not too difficult; it knows how to challenge players without forcing them to die, reload, die, reolad, die reload, ad infinitum.

Lastly, I found this game a decent value in terms of length. TOSC is now a bargain bin purchase, and although some customers here like to brag (lie???) about how the game only took them 10 hours to complete, Tales took me betwen 1 and 2 weeks to finish. I admit that I may not be a master AD&D player, yet I did successfully complete BG and felt that my party was very much up to the challenge of the expansion pack.

This game does get docked a notch, however, for some small problems: 1) Pathfinding is still troublesome. 2) Inventory juggling is still a nightmare. I truly believe that about 50% of Baldur's Gate (and this expansion) is spent juggling inventory items. 3) The puzzle element introduced in Durlag's Tower is more annoying than fun. 4) The next-to-final battle against a monster summoned with Durlag's Blade is insanely difficult and convoluted. But basically, if you enjoyed the original you should probably enjoy this expansion.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great game - adds a good bit to the original.
Review: If you liked Baldur's Gate you will love the expansion pack. Don't be fooled by some of the other reviews, some people find fault with the Mona Lisa too. The additions in terms of abilities, areas, and other features are worth the price and add hours of enjoyment to playing the original game.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great game - adds a good bit to the original.
Review: If you liked Baldur's Gate you will love the expansion pack. Don't be fooled by some of the other reviews, some people find fault with the Mona Lisa too. The additions in terms of abilities, areas, and other features are worth the price and add hours of enjoyment to playing the original game.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Tales of the Sword Coast is fun, but lacks depth.
Review: In Tales of the Sword Coast, you are taken back to the land of Baldur's gate prior to the end of the game. You are placed in the city called Ulgoth's Beard.

Once in this city, you are immediately sent on a quest to an ice island. This scenario is realitively easy to complete. Following this completion, you can be sent on two more major missions. The first one sends you in search of Balduran's ship and a forgotten island. This scenario is intriguing due to the new enemies that are werewolves. The climax of this part of the game can be difficult, but has some nice game play.

After completing this scenario, you go for the last scenario that sends you down to Durlag's tower. There are numerous levels found in the tower, in which a few levels can be quite confusing. There is excellent images on the one level in which a skeleton of a greater wyvern surrounds the floor. In order to complete the tower, the party must defeat a demonknight, which is not too simple.

Following the completion of the tower, the party must complete one or two minor scenarios before the final task of facing Sarovek.

Overall, this game is just a mere minor extension of Baldur's Gate. Yes the play can be fulfilling, but there is not enough depth the game in order to justify the price. In my opinion even though it is adequate, there is no real need or desire to play this game.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Low Quality Expansion
Review: In this expansion pack you basically get three main subquests, two of which are long and difficult. You get to raise your characters to level 9, and 10 for your thief(You will need a thief to disarm traps and pick locks so make sure you keep a thief for this expansion set). My main dislike of this game is how poorly it ties in with the orginal Balder's gate. The story lines do not connect at all. If you imported your character from the main balder's gate the expansion pack drops you off in a new town just before the epic battle with Saverok. But in the subquests you do come across many different villains, puzzles, and creatures to kill. Plus you will be able to equip your party members with fancy armor and powerful weapons. If your number one reason in liking the orginal Balder's gate was to follow the storyline than I do not recommend Tales of the Sword Coast. However, if you loved killing exotic monsters and boosting the strength of your character's than this is the perfect set for you. Your characters will become much stronger and gain more spells, and weapons. Interplay did a great job in creating a chance for players to boost up their characters, however the storyline is weak and doesn't connect too well (or not at all) with the orginal Game.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good could of been Better
Review: In this expansion pack you basically get three main subquests, two of which are long and difficult. You get to raise your characters to level 9, and 10 for your thief(You will need a thief to disarm traps and pick locks so make sure you keep a thief for this expansion set). My main dislike of this game is how poorly it ties in with the orginal Balder's gate. The story lines do not connect at all. If you imported your character from the main balder's gate the expansion pack drops you off in a new town just before the epic battle with Saverok. But in the subquests you do come across many different villains, puzzles, and creatures to kill. Plus you will be able to equip your party members with fancy armor and powerful weapons. If your number one reason in liking the orginal Balder's gate was to follow the storyline than I do not recommend Tales of the Sword Coast. However, if you loved killing exotic monsters and boosting the strength of your character's than this is the perfect set for you. Your characters will become much stronger and gain more spells, and weapons. Interplay did a great job in creating a chance for players to boost up their characters, however the storyline is weak and doesn't connect too well (or not at all) with the orginal Game.


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