[IronDragon]

Originally posted by Mahokenshi: Arrival in Saradush. Mellisan is the most obvious villian of the entire trilogy. More obvious than the "Armoured Figure." More obvious than Irencius (my very first playthrough I thought Irenicus was just a jailor working for someone else; go figure.) I remember that, during that peasants vs guards conversation, I was already making plans to both hold off the guards and force-attack her.

I remember my first meeting with Mellisan…she broadcasts evil. Probably because the game calls so much attention to her..and the fact she has a portrait. it would have been better if she quietly appeared in the city asking for help with some side quest.

Saradush is little. More on this later. But at least it had several interesting subquests. More on THIS later too.

Little .. it was disappointingly small.

Oh, and to retroactively add a commment; Illesara got some SERIOIUS ret-conning done to her character (ret-con being retroactive continuity). She got to be one of the Five. Yeah. Oh well, I guess every chain needs a weak link. It wasn't until Chapter 9 that I was finally convinced that she wasn't just some Random Assassin Chick (heavan knows there are plenty of those at least in BG1... .)

And several of those BG1 assassins were tougher than Illesara was. What a waste of a character.

Giant Smurfette. Yes, yes, the whole "am I my brother's keeper and all" is part of our culture too, but I owe the ToB NPCs nothing. Just because PC got saved and NPC didn't doesn't mean that the burdon of guilt over that, if there reall was such a thing, would fall to me. I was a bit put out when I found out my dialogue choice for that scene counted as "evil." That's an opinion, not a universal truth. To be fiar, most of the other Giant Smurfette trails were more palatable in their choices.

This really rubbed me the wrong way to. Once I figured out that the answers you give the Solar don’t really affect anything I started answering truthfully instead of what the game dictates as the “good” answer. Should I feel sorry for Sarevek because I got Gorion and he didn’t? Heck no I should not. the game is implying that being good or evil isn’t about one’s actions or the choices one makes…rather it is about who your parents are. Pathetic.

Fighting Sendai was funny. Here, the fast pacing, action oriented tone of the game was done well. All the cutscenes were a blast, and the final battle was an interesting and unusual challange. I wish that more fights were like that, rather than of the "lower its thaco to -10 and add on 200 hit points" variety.

this fight was one of the few challenging ones in ToB

Fighting Abazigal was a decent last hurrah for dragon slaying in the series. But ... Draconis was the size of a skyscraper, so he would have been a Young Adult ... and that would make Abazigal a Mature Adult at the youngest, meaning the PC's "sibling" here would have been at LEAST 400 years old or so... . How long was Bhall forced to be a mortal for? Was I supposed to not notice that? I think so. A child of bhall/dragon must have been too cool in the concept stage to pass up.

The PC or any of the other Bhaaspawn were not specifically conceived during the Time of Troubles. Remember Bhaal had foreknowledge of his death and took action in the form of having dozens of moral children. there is nothing to indicate just when he found out …but considering that the prophecies of Alanso are all over the place it shouldn’t have been tough for him. Considering how long it takes things like dragons and elfs and giants and drow to mature Bhaal had obviously been out getting females pregnant for some time. What is more interesting is just why he went out of the human gene pool. Why would he father a half dragon in the first place?

Story wise; I think more was bitten off than the developers could chew. I think focusing on one or two villians rather than seven in a game so small (having done watcher's keep in SoA, I plowed through ToB in a lazy day) would have led to more depth and a more worthwhile story. Eeh. An old complaint; I had read it before, but, well, I want to make it too; however belated it is.

I think they stared with the concept of a full game like Baldur’s gate and ToB but then cut it back to just be a mod.

And now on to PowerGamer's Paradise Awards. Most Awesome dialogue award: Spectator Least Awesome dialogue award: Cespenar; when I had him upgrade all the Watcher's keep stuff in one go. "OOOOH!" can only be endured so often by the human mind.

Hey…I like Cespanar

Most Awesome weapon in my party mix (ToB): The Staff of the Ram. Wow is it fun to thwack an enemy across the screen, run after them, and give them another good thwack.

I hate running across the screen…so I never use the silly thing. I prefer the Flail of Ages +5...now that is a weapon

Least Awesome weapon in my party mix (ToB): Hindo's Doom. What, even when upgraded only +4? When everything and its uncle gets +5 or +6? Okay, there may have been a lot of criticism over SoA's Celestial Cheese stick, but wouldn't it have been better to alter the CF and put a good katana into ToB rather than do this?

There is a mod that does upgrade CF…but I think it just makes the thing overpowered …and it turns it blue too.

Funnest enemy: Sendai Least fun enemy: Balthazar

Balthazar was just anti-climactic